What If
by janie001
Summary: Fan fiction authored by Janie(Roswell is a tv show I do not own the characters) Summary: What if...is a question full of possibilities. What if Elizabeth Parker was shot at the Crashdown on September of 2013? What if Max Evans was there to heal her? What if Michael stopped him before he could finish healing her? What if the whole world knew about it...
1. Chapter 1

_Hello, my name is Elizabeth Parker and I have a story to tell. It all started one fateful afternoon. I know that sounds so dramatic, but in my case I have to believe fate played a part in what happened to me that day. It was a typical busy Saturday afternoon. I was working the late shift at The Crashdown with my best friend Maria. The restaurant was particularly busy because of the UFO convention that week. Yes, I know it's all rather cliché, but I work at a restaurant called the The Crashdown, in Roswell, New Mexico; home of the first documented UFO crash in the United States. Every year the whole town puts on this huge convention, for one solid week the town is overrun by alien hunters, people who think they have been abducted, and those who are seriously searching for answers to the question; does life really exist on other planets. The craziness carries on for one week, and then on Sunday night there's this huge party and a reenactment of the crash that happened in 1947. Ok, I admit it is pretty cheesy, but it does break up the monotony around here and in a strange way I always look forward to it. This year was not really any different. I had worked the convention week with Maria and put up with a whole lot of crazy. I can't even count how many times I heard people say, "the truth is out there." By the end of the week the town was full of thrill seekers and alien buffs from all over the world and The Crashdown was non stop busy from the time we opened until... well, until I got shot. I still can't believe I am writing that, but its true; I got shot and then I died, and then the strangest thing that has ever happened to me happened; I woke up. That's right I died and then something, or someone brought me back and things have been crazy ever since. Like I said I have a story to tell only I can't tell it...not ever so I am writing it all down here in my journal. Like I said it was fate that day that intervened, it was fate that stepped in and made our paths cross. It had to be right, cause I'm not crazy... am I?_

Maria glanced back over her shoulder, "Liz..." she called out. "Max Evans is staring at you again."

Liz took in a deep breath, "He is so not Maria." she told her friend.

Maria smiled, "I promise you that he is." she told her. "He has such a crush on you."

Liz took in a deep breath, "Maria this is not the face that guys like Max Evans spend their afternoons staring at."

"Of course it is, you are gorgeous why else would Kyle Valenti be all over you." Maria asked her as she grabbed the coffee decanter. "He is the captain of the ..." she paused for a moment, "of everything, right."

"Yeah speaking of Kyle, I kind of ended things with him the other night." Liz told her.

Maria shook her head, "Really?" she asked her, "why I thought things were going good?"

Liz took in a deep breath, "They were, but then they weren't."

Maria laughed, "What is that suppose to mean?"

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. Kyle is a great guy and I like him, he is a great friend, but there is just nothing there." she told her, "no chemistry at all."

"I get it, chemistry equals spark and if there's no spark whats the point," Maria told her.

Liz shook her head, "Exactly."

Maria went off to serve the counter customers more coffee as Liz made her way over to Max and Micheal's table. "Hi guys so what can I get you?"

Max smiled, "Hey Liz."

Michael just nodded, "Cherry coke and a plate of onion rings."

Liz nodded her head as she wrote it down, "What about you Max, you want a cherry coke with an outer space burger and side of fries?"

Max smiled, "Yeah that would be great." he told her. She was just about to turn and leave when he reached out and touched her arm, "Oh and Liz could you bring over some..."

"Extra Tabasco sauce." she smiled, "I remember."

"Thanks" Max told her as she walked over to get their drinks.

"Things are crazy in here today, what the heck is going on?" Michael asked him feeling uncomfortable with all the people.

Max couldn't take his eyes off of Liz. She was so beautiful, he loved the way her hair fell down around her shoulders and the way her dark brown eyes sparkled when she smiled. He wished more than anything he could talk to her, spend time and get to know her but he had to keep his distance. It was the sound of Michael voice that jarred him out of his thoughts.

"Maxwell did you here what I said?" he waved his hand in front of Max's face.

Max turned his attention back to Michael, "yeah I heard you."

"Well?" Michael asked, "Do you know why everything is so busy today?"

"It's the UFO convention." Max reminded him.

Michael took in a deep breath, "Seriously, it's really that time again?"

Max nodded his head, "Afraid so."

Michael took a look around, that was why there were so many strange faces in the restaurant today. He hated this time of year. All kinds of crazies came to Roswell and it just made him feel that much more insecure knowing that he had a secret to hide and there were so many who would love to find it out. "We need to keep a low profile until this stupid convention is over and all these whack nut jobs go back home." he told him.

Max looked around and laughed, "Michael no one here is gonna suspect that we are who we are." he told him. "Honestly most of these people are searching for little green men or ET."

"Its the one thing that freaks me out ok. It's like being the only witch on Halloween in a town of witch hunters." he told him, "I hate that there are so many people hanging around watching for any little sign that somethings going to happen. Its creepy."

After clearing another table and getting two more orders Liz was finally able to get the drinks Max and Michael had ordered. She was just about to take them to the table when she heard Maria scream her name. She jumped startled by the sound and turned to see two guys struggling over a gun. She stared in disbelief as everyone around her reacted and dropped to the floor just as the gun went off. Moments later she felt the bullet rip through her chest and knock her back to the floor. She struggled with her breathing as she looked down and realized she had just been shot. She heard someones voice calling out to her, she looked back up and saw him. It was Max kneeling just above her, he was saying something to her, but then the room began spinning and the burning pain in her chest was so intense that she closed her eyes as darkness enveloped her.

Max ripped open her uniform and held his hand down tightly over the wound. He called out her name and concentrated on healing her. For a moment he felt this intense unexplainable connection with her, he was feeling her pain, and seeing the images from her mind. It was working, she was going to be ok, he told himself. She had to be ok. The more energy he exerted the weaker he felt but he could tell she was still with him.

Maria heard Max call out to get an ambulance and she raced to the phone. The whole room was a chaotic mess, the gunman ran out of the restaurant with the other man not far behind. Some of the customers didn't know what was happening some ran out of the restaurant in a panic while others tried to see what was happening to Liz. Maria looked over at the people gathering around her friends lifeless body. As soon as she finished the call she made her way over to Liz, Max was leaning over her, he was so upset."Oh my gosh Max is she?" Maria cried out unable to finish the sentence as Michael pulled him away.

Max wrestled to free himself from Micheal's hold, "Let me go I have to finish, I can help her."

Michael shook him, "You can't do anything more right now." he told him. "Lets go lets get out of here."

Max fought with Michael and as he broke free he turned back to see several people all hunched down over Liz. He tried to make his way back over to her but Michael pulled him back, "Maxwell its to late, now come on. There are to many people." he told him as he pulled him away. "The ambulance is here."

Max stood there motionless for a few seconds, he had tried to heal her but he didn't know if it was enough. He knew a connection was made between them, somehow he still felt her there with him . If only Michael hadn't pulled him away just when it was beginning to work. He could hear the sounds of the sirens as the ambulance pulled up.

Michael pulled his arm and snapped at him again, "Maxwell we have to go right now."

Max could hear Maria crying as she kept calling out to Liz but with so many people there was nothing more he could do. He looked down at the blood on his hands and stumbled backwards. He felt Micheal's hand grab hold of his arm and drag him out to the jeep. He was in shock as Michael shoved him into the jeep and then drove off. How could he do that, how could he just leave her there? He turned to Michael, " I could have healed her, why did you pull me away like that I could have saved her life."

Michael shook his head, "Maxwell there were to many people." he told him as he drove him toward the hospital, "She was breathing, I saw her, what you did bought her some time."

Max was so angry, "It wasn't enough, she is going to die unless I finish what I started." he yelled at him. He could feel the pain in her body as she struggled to breath. She was so afraid.

Micheal tried to keep calm, "Max we have to think about ourselves in this whole mess. If you stayed there every one of those people would have seen you and it would be all over for us."

Max shook his head, "You don't understand, I can't walk away from her. I started something back there, a connection, a link of some kind...I can feel what she is feeling." he told him as he struggled to control his emotions and the intense pain that Liz was feeling, " I can't let her die Michael, not her, not Liz." He said leaning back in the seat, and closing his eyes.

The realization of what Max was saying finally hit him, "Let the paramedics get her to the hospital, see what the doctors can do, we will go over and if need be you go in and do what you have to do." Michael told him. "You should clean up your hands."

Max closed his eyes and ran one hand over the other, in a moment the blood was gone. He tried to keep himself under control but all he could think of at that moment was getting to Liz and making sure she was going to be alright, "Michael I have to do this, I can't walk away from her and let her die." he told him then added, "But if anything happens, you don't have to be there. I will do this alone."

Michael took in a deep breath and shook his head, "Maxwell I told you we can't get mixed up with these humans. I warned you." he said as he pulled into the far back of the parking lot of Roswell Memorial hospital. Moments later the sound of sirens was already approaching along with two other cars following behind it. Max and Michael watched as Liz was rushed directly into the hospital. It wasn't long until Maria, and her parents followed.

Max got out of the jeep, "You go tell Isabel what is happening. If anything goes wrong take Isabel and leave." he told him as he turned to go.

Michael called out his name, "Maxwell wait.." he said as he tossed him a dark blue hoodie and a baseball cap. "Put these on, cover up your head maybe we will get lucky no will notice you. Do what you got to do, but keep your head down. I will be back after I talk to Isabel. I will park over there under the broken street lamp." he pointed.

Max slipped the jacket on "She is still alive, I can feel her. I know you don't understand, but thank you for helping me do this." he told him then said, "Remember if anything happens, you go, take Is and don't look back." he told him.

"Just be careful Maxwell." Michael told him before he drove off.

Max didn't say anything more as he put on the cap and then pulled the hoodie up around his head and went into the ER. Once inside he watched as the Parkers, and Maria went into a near by waiting room. They were all so upset. He could see the worry in their faces. He walked down the hall and stood just outside of the emergency room door, the doctors were busy working on Liz. He took a step back as one of the nurses came busting through the door. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even notice him. Max wasn't really sure what was happening, but some how he knew he was still linked to Liz. He could feel the darkness and cold all around her, as she struggled to stay alive. He leaned up against the wall, closed his eyes and just focused all his energy on her. "Please Liz don't leave me.." he mumbled softly. "I am here, I am with you. Hold on."

A few hours past while they all waited for news on Liz. Alex showed up not long after they got there and spent the night waiting with the Parker's and Maria. As time dragged on Jeff Parker could see the toll waiting was taking on his wife. He turned to Maria and Alex, "I am going to take Nancy to the chapel, I know it will bring her some comfort to be there." he told them then said, "Maria I know you want to stay here, but I think it will be best if you let Alex take you home."

"No Mr. Parker I really want to stay here with Liz." she told him as tears fresh tears filled her eyes.

He took her hand in his, "Please Maria you need to get some rest and even when Liz does come out of surgery they won't let everyone in to see her." he told her. "Go home and get some rest."

Alex wrapped his arm around Maria's shoulder, "Come on I will drive you home and we can come back first thing in the morning." he assured her.

Maria nodded her head, "Ok, but please call us as soon as you can to let us know how she is." she told him.

Jeff leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "I will." he told her, "I promise."

Max watched them as they left, making sure that neither of them took any notice of him. It wasn't long before the doctors came in to talk with Liz parents. His heart sank as he heard the news the doctor gave Mr. and Mrs. Parker about their daughter. "I am so sorry I know this must be so difficult for you both. I wish that there was something more I could offer you, but the truth is she has lost a lot of blood and the bullet is lodged very near her heart. We had our best heart surgeon come in on this, but there just is no way to save her. If we even attempt to remove the bullet she will bleed to death in a matter of seconds. I 'm sorry there was just so much damage." he told them, "I am sorry there isn't anything more we can do."

Nancy Parker began sobbing, "Please there must be something. Please don't let my baby die. She's all we have." she cried as Jeff wrapped his arms around her to keep her from collapsing.

"I am so sorry Mrs. Parker, there is just nothing that can be done." the doctor told her, "Take some time and then go in and be with her. She is in her own room in the ICU. I have given her somethings for the pain and to help her breath easier."

Jeff held on tight to his wife as the two of them came to terms with the loss of their only child. "This can't be happening.." he cried. "please don't let this be happening."

The doctor came out into the hall and stopped the nurse, "give them a little time then let them go in and say their good byes."

The nurse nodded her head, "her vitals are weaken doctor, I don't think she has much longer."

"The fact that she has made it this far is nothing short of a miracle, with the bullet where it is I honestly don't know what is keeping that girl alive right now. She has strong determination to live." he told her before signing the orders and going to check on the next patient.

Max watched as they both went down the hall, then he made his way into the emergency room. He knew he only had a little bit of time before it would be to late. He could feel her slipping away from him. He went into Liz room as quietly as he could, he knew what the doctors were saying, but he had to try, he couldn't lose her. He stood over her and whispered her name, "Liz, I am here." he called out to her as tears formed in his eyes. He picked up her hand in his, it was so cold, so lifeless. He struggled to keep in control of his emotions, as he leaned down closer to her, "Liz listen to my voice you have to come back to me please." he whispered softly into her ear. As tears rolled down his cheek he reached out his hand and placed it just over her heart. He whispered her name again, "Liz please open your eyes,..." he said as his hand began to glow a soft white light emanating from all around it. "Liz please I need you.." he told her, "Please don't leave me." He focused all of his energy into healing her, as he did flashes of her as a little girl filled his mind. He saw her first day of school, the day she met Alex, and when she learned to ride a bike. He saw visions of her life, her family and he saw himself through her eyes. Sweat began pouring down his face, his body began trembling with pure energy as a connection between the two of them grew stronger.

Liz could hear someone calling out to her, they were calling her name and pleading with her not to go. There was so much darkness all around her and she felt so cold but the sound of his voice was growing stronger. At first she wasn't sure who was there, but as his pleas for her to hear him grew stronger the darkness began to lift and give way to the light in the room. She was suddenly very aware that someone was there with her, had been with her all along from the moment she got shot. She knew this person, she knew that voice. "Max..." she mumbled softly in a broken whisper. She could feel his hand holding on to hers.

Max held her hand tight as he focused all his energy on the wound in her chest, "Liz its me, open your eyes, talk to me." he pleaded with her.

Liz felt overwhelmed with a warm sensation surging through her entire body. She didn't know what was happening to her, but the pain was gone and her breathing was becoming more normal. She struggled to open her eyes, "Max is that you?" she whispered his name again. "where am I..." she asked feeling confused.

"Your alright, Liz your alright now." he told her as he moved his hand away from her chest. The wound was completely healed. The sound of the heart monitor going off as her vitals improved caused him to let go of her hand. "Liz please don't tell anyone I was here. Don't tell anyone what I did. My life is in your hands, please." he pleaded with her.

Liz tried to get up, but as she did she felt really dizzy from all the pain medicines they were giving her and she fell back down on the bed. "Max..." she called out his name, but he had already gone. No one noticed as the nurses and doctors rushed into the room the stranger hidden in the shadows that quietly left.

Max covered his head with his hoodie and walked out as Mr. and Mrs. Parker went running past him. The last thing he heard before he stepped on the elevator was the sound of Mr. Parker's voice and he cried out in relief. "Oh thank you Lord." He knew he had taken a huge risk in coming here to heal her, he knew that there would be a lot of unanswered questions as to what had happened, but he didn't care. Liz was going to be alright and that was all that matter to him in that moment.

Liz struggled to open her eyes as the doctor and nurse began checking her vitals. She could hear them talking about the miracle that must have taken place. How there was no other explanation that she was suddenly and completely healed. She heard her parents calling out to her and she felt the warmth of her dads hand as he took hers in his and held it close. She tried to look around the room, to see the one face of the person who had helped her. She looked for Max but he wasn't there. As the drugs began taking over she closed her eyes and wondered if it had all been some kind of strange dream. The room began spinning faster and faster as she lost consciousness and everything faded to black.

Isabel was waiting in her room when Max finally came in, she ran over to him and hugged him tight, "Oh Max I was so worried about you." she told him.

Max hugged her, "I had to do it Is...I had to save her." was all he could say as the adrenalin wore off and his emotions over came him.

"I know...Michael told me what happened." she whispered softly. "Is she alright?"

Max nodded his head, "yeah she is going to be fine." he told her, "The doctors did surgery, but they couldn't take the out the bullet because of its close proximity to her heart, she was dying." he told her, "So I waited until the doctor was out with her parents and then I went in and healed her."

"Max no one saw you right?" Isabel hated to but she had to ask. "you were really careful?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm sure, no one saw me."

Isabel breathed a sigh of relief, "what about Liz do you think she will remember you being there?" she asked him.

"No I am not sure if she even knows I was there. They had her on a lot of medicine and she was in and out." he told her then he said "There was a connection though, it was unlike anything I have ever experienced before in my life. For a time she and I were linked together. It was like..." he tried to find the words to express what he meant, "It was like we were sharing my life force and I was carrying a part of her with me. It was like I was holding on to her until I could finish healing her."

Isabel didn't know what to say, "Max that sounds so intense, are you sure your alright?" she asked him noticing for the first time how exhausted he looked.

He walked over and sat down on his bed, "I'm fine Is. Really I promise, I'm just completely wiped out that's all." he told her. "I've never exerted that much energy for so long before."

"I guess for tonight we wait and see how this all plays out tomorrow." Isabel told him. "Mom and dad will be back tomorrow so try to get some rest." she turned off his light as she went to her room.

Max laid down on his bed, he was so exhausted that he didn't even take the time to get undressed. He closed his eyes and thought about Liz. She was so helpless laying there, her body was so lifeless. In that moment seeing her like that, he knew he was absolutely in love with her, and that he always had been. No matter what happened in the morning he knew he did the right thing by healing her.

The pain killers finally began to wear off as Liz came to. She wasn't really sure where she was at first, she called out to her mom, "Mom are you there?" she asked as she looked around the room. She had an IV in her arm and a heart monitor hooked up to her chest. She reached her hand up and felt the oxygen tube in her nose.

"Liz sweetie, we are both here." Nancy told her daughter.

Liz struggled to sit up, "What's happening?" she asked. "Where am I?"

Jeff walked over and sat down on the bed next to his daughter. "Don't you remember what happened?" he asked her.

Liz thought about what had happened, she tried to remember. So much of it was foggy almost like a dream. There were so many questions racing through her mind, questions she couldn't possibly answer. She looked at her mom and dad and shook her head, "I don't remember very much. I mean I know I was working a shift with Maria and things we're busy because of the convention." she told them then said, "I remember there was a fight and two guys were arguing about something and Maria yelled for me, but after that every thing just kind of goes blank."

"You don't remember anything else at all?" Her dad asked her.

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "No." she told them then asked, "Why am I in the hospital and how did I get here?"

Nancy smiled and patted her on the hand, "Liz honey, this is going to be hard for you to believe, but you were shot." she told her as calmly as she could.

Liz shook head, "That's not possible." she looked down over her body, she felt no pain, besides a little sleepiness from the effects of the medicine, other than that she felt completely fine. "Mom that's not possible," she repeated herself then said, "I feel absolutely fine." she told her.

Jeff smiled and took her other hand in his, "We can't explain it either, the doctors can't even explain it, but Liz honey yesterday afternoon you were rushed in here with a gun shot wound to the chest. The doctors did surgery to remove the bullet, but they told us that you weren't going to make it. We lost all hope, we thought for sure you were lost to us, but then something miraculous happened, something so amazing, no one knows how, but you were healed completely." he told her. "Even the bullet is gone, just as if it had never been there." he told her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I don't know what to say. I don't remember any of it." she told them. "I feel fine though and I really would like to go home?" she told them.

"Well I think we need to keep you here for a while longer Miss Parker." the doctor said as he came into her room.

Liz shook her head, "Mom, dad seriously I am fine." she told them both and to prove it she went to get up out of the bed.

"Liz honey maybe we just better let the doctor decide." her mom told her as she pushed her back down.

"Now I know your feeling better, but you gave us all a scare last night and well to be honest we are all still scratching our heads here this morning," the doctor told her. "So until we can figure out what exactly happened I think your going to have to stay here."

Liz looked over at him, "You mean stay here so you can run tests on me right? I don't want to be anyone's science experiment. I feel fine and I want to go home."

"Liz there are a lot of unanswered questions that we all have. I don't want to seem insensitive to your feelings, but you shouldn't even be alive right now. Your body has just under gone a life and death event and yet here you are with no physical effects to show that. You had a bullet lodge near the right ventricle of your heart and now its gone. Completely disappeared." he told her, "so yes of course there will have to be test that we need to do, but I promise we will let you go home soon as we can. We need time to find some answers to what happened here. To begin with I want a full blood panel drawn, and we need to do an MRI. I promise I will let you go home soon as I can." he told them.

Liz looked at her father, "Dad please I am fine and just really want to go home. I don't want them to poke and prod me like a lab rat." she told him.

Jeff smiled, he knew that look, it was one of determination. "Dr. Hastings we will be taking our daughter home with us today." he told him, "As far as I am concerned she is fine, her heart is fine, she looks great and I really don't need all the answers. I prayed for my little girl to be ok and my prayers were answered when she woke up so that is enough for me."

Dr. Hastings shook his head, "Mr. Parker I am as thrilled as you are that Liz came through this, but you have to understand what the implications of what happened here are. Liz was admitted under my care and you can't just come in and remove her. You have to understand what your daughters recovery means." he explained, "There are going to be write ups in the journal of medicine, we need to take samples, run tests, do scans,..." he told him, "she didn't just have a miraculous recovery, her body has completely rejuvenated itself. There isn't even a scar left from where the surgeon made the incision to try to remove the bullet, which by the way seems to have just disappeared. This goes way beyond miraculous healing and I have no intention of releasing your daughter at this time."

Jeff was just about to argue with him further when their family doctor came through the door. "I don't think you heard what Mr. Parker said, he wants to take his daughter home and since I am her primary care physician and have been since she was a little girl I think I can safely say that I see no reason looking over her vitals and charts this morning to keep her for any longer. She is a normal healthy teenage who doesn't want to be stuck inside this hospital with you."

"Dr. Pritchard surely you can see the need to understand what happened here last night." he told him in protest.

"I think Jeff summed it up pretty well, a prayer was answered, and for the rest I think sometimes we just need to except the miracles and blessings that are given to us." he told the younger doctor then he turned to Liz, "So young lady you all ready to go home and get back to helping this dad of yours with serving up some out of this world onion rings and burgers?" he asked her.

"Yes and thank you Dr. Pritchard, thank you so much." Liz told him as she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Alright then lets do this right, let me have a good look at you so I can get you discharged all proper." he told her as he stepped over and looked in Liz ears, nose, and throat. He listened to her heart, and her breathing, "Well you have no temperature, your lungs are clear, your heart rate is excellent and you have no signs of any kind of infection so I say lets get you up and out of here."

Dr. Hastings shook his head in frustration, " You did not even examine the area where she was shot." he protested.

"And why should I, you said yourself there isn't even a scar." he told him then said, "Dr. Hastings I really don't think we need to put Liz through anymore then she has already been through. Now the nurse will remove the IV and you are all set to leave."

Dr. Hastings became frustrated, "I am going on record here as saying I was against the release of this patient without further testing to ensure that she was fully recovered and safe to leave the hospital." he told them. "We should be doing blood test, MRI scans, and DNA testing."

Dr. Pritchard smiled, "I don't think any of that will be necessary, but I will make note of your protest." he told him as the younger doctor stormed out of the room.

The nurse came over and began taking out her IV. "You are such a lucky young lady." she told Liz. "In all my years as a nurse I have never seen anything like this."

Liz nodded her head, "Yeah, its pretty amazing." She agreed not really sure what she should say.

"We all thought you were going to die during the night, but here you are all healed. I mean you don't even have any kind of scar. Some of us that were on duty were wondering, did you feel anything...do you remember anything? Did you see anything, did you see angels?" she asked her.

Liz shook her head, "I don't know." she mumbled. "I don't remember what happened."

Jeff could see how uncomfortable the discussion was making Liz feel, "I think we all are very thankful for this miracle." he told the nurse then added, "But Liz has no memory of what happened."

The nurse smiled at her, "Well is still pretty wonderful. You have been truly blessed, but I guess you know that."

Liz nodded her head, "Yes it is amazing." she agreed.

Nancy looked over at the Dr. "We don't need to be worried that Liz can't remember anything about what happened do we?" she asked him.

Dr. Pritchard took Liz's hand in his, "No." he told her as he looked down at Liz, "Sometimes the mind has a way of dealing with things for us that we can't quite face. I am sure when Liz is ready and can understand what it was that happened, her mind will help her to do so."

Nancy seemed relieved, "So she really is fine."

Dr. Pritchard smiled, "Yep she really is fine." he told them as he patted her on the hand. "Now I am going to get out of here and let you folks be on your way. Liz if you have any questions, or need to talk, you come to me personally ok. I will let them know at the office my door is open to you."

"Thank you." Liz said then she turned to her mom "Mom can you get me my clothes." she asked trying to change the subject.

"I have them." Maria told her as she stepped inside the room.

Jeff smiled, "I called Maria early this morning and told her to stop off and get you some things just in case." he whispered to Liz, "I had a feeling you might want to come home."

"Thanks dad." she told him.

Maria walked over and gave her friend a huge hug. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

Liz smiled, "I won't." she assured her, "I promise."

Jeff got to his feet and motioned for everyone to leave the room, "I think we need to give Liz some privacy so she can get dressed." he told them. The nurse was still going on about the miracle with Dr. Pritchard as they left the room but Nancy and Jeff just smiled, they had their daughter back and that was all that matter to them. Liz did hear her dad remind both the nurses and Dr. Hastings that the circumstance around his daughters recovery were private family matter and that was how they wanted it to stay.

Liz held on to Maria's hand, "Maria you stay." she waited to make sure everyone was gone from the room then she said, "Maria you have to tell me everything that happened yesterday. Don't leave anything out." she told her.

Maria sat down on the bed next to Liz, "Don't you remember any of it?" she asked her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "Its foggy. I remember little bits and pieces, but nothing really solid. It's almost like it was a dream or something." she told her then asked again, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Maria let out a small sigh, "well everything went crazy, people where ducking under the tables and there was a lot of screaming."

"What happened to me?" Liz asked needing more specific information.

Maria thought about it, "I remember getting up and seeing you laying on the floor. I called out to you and Max was like right over there by your side. He just reacted." she told her. "He was amazing, he tried to help you."

"Max came up to me first?" Liz asked her again. "Max Evans from school?"

"Yeah he was like holding his hand down over your chest applying pressure to the wound, but then all these people came over and Micheal pulled him away to make room for the ambulance." she told her.

"What else happened?" she asked.

"Well after Michael pulled Max out-of-the-way the ambulance guys came rushing in. You weren't really responding so they were working on you really fast. After that they got you in the ambulance and brought you here." Maria told her.

"That's it, that's all that happened?" Liz asked her.

"That's what happened at the Crashdown. I don't know what happened here. They took you into surgery and we waited for some news. I went with your mom and dad to the chapel, Alex stayed in the waiting room. It got really late and your dad made Alex and I go home," she told her then said, "Which by the way I did not want to do, but you know how your dad can be. So I don't know what happened after that."

Liz bit her bottom lip, "Maria I know something happened to me when I got shot, but I am not sure what." she told her. "I wish I could remember everything, but right now its all so messed up in my head."

Maria wrapped her arm around her, "Well it will come back to you, for now lets get you out of this hospital." she told her as she pushed her toward the bathroom. "That Dr. Hastings wants to make you his own personal lab rat."

Liz went into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She took off the hospital gown, she could not wait to get out of the hospital. She slipped her jeans on, but stopped suddenly as she was putting on her bra, "What happened to me?" she mumbled to herself and she stared down at her chest. There was a glowing silver hand print just beneath her left breast over her heart. She stood up and walked over to the mirror to get a better look. It was so odd, it looked like the outline of a human hand, but it was glowing. It was the sound of Maria voice that got her attention.

"Liz everything alright in there?" she called out to her.

"Yeah, just thinking I can't wait to get home and take a proper shower." she lied as she reached down and pulled her shirt down and then slipped on her socks and shoes.


	2. Chapter 2

Michael walked in through the back door of the kitchen and saw Isabel sitting at the table, "Your parents still not home yet?"

"No they get back later today." she told him.

"What about Maxwell?" he asked as he sat down and poured himself a bowl of cereal, "How is he this morning?"

"Not sure he was still out cold when I checked on him." she told him. "He looked terrible when he got home last night. I have never seen him look so exhausted."

"Well it probably takes it out of you when you bring someone back from the brink of death." he told her.

Isabel took in a deep breath, "It was more than that Michael he was talking about how the two of them were linked or something. He said he felt like a part of her was with him."

"Yeah he said something similar to me when I was taking him to the hospital." he told her as he gulped down his cereal.

"Do you think anyone saw him?" Isabel asked.

"I think if they had we would all be some place else right now." he told her then said as he looked up at the clock. "Ok I am going to go wake him up and then head back to my house. The game is on and I want to catch it."

Liz made her way up the stairs toward her bedroom with Maria following close behind her. Her parents had been so wonderful to her over the last twenty-four hours she felt really lucky to have them. Just before she went into her room she stopped and turned around she thought about what had happened and took in a deep breath, she thought about what she wanted to say for a few minutes, "Mom, Dad..." she began, "I just wanted to say thank you for standing by me back there at the hospital. I know this has all been really crazy, but you both have been amazing."

Jeff walked over and gave her a hug, "Lizzy don't you worry about it. We are just so thankful to have you back we don't care who or what healed you."

Nancy looked thoughtfully at her daughter, "Liz about school..." she searched for a way to express what was on her heart, "Do you think you want to go back right away? I mean there are bound to be rumors and kids will probably ask a lot of questions."

Liz hadn't thought about that, "Lets just see how things go." she told them. She gave them both a kiss and went into her room with Maria.

Maria walked over and sat down on the bed, "So you know your mom is right, there is probably going to be a lot of talk. You sure your up for it?"

Liz locked her bedroom door and shook her head, "Maria I have way bigger problems." she told her, "I am going to show you something, but you can't freak out on me."

Maria laughed, "Liz you know me, I am as calm as can be."

She nodded her head, "Alright, when I was getting dressed this morning I found this thing on my chest and..." she lifted up her shirt to show her the glowing silver hand print.

Maria jumped up, "What the what..." she said out louder than she meant to.

Liz took in a deep breath and motioned for her to be quiet. "Maria, be quiet I don't want my parents to know." she told her.

"I'm sorry." she told her then said, "Does it hurt?" she asked her.

Liz pulled her shirt down, "No. Its just there."

Maria shook her head, "I guess the million dollar question then is how did it get there?"

Liz took Maria's hand in hers and pulled her over toward the bed. They both sat down as Liz began telling her about what she could remember. "Maria that's just it I can't remember everything, but there are pieces, images in my head. Its foggy but."

Maria swallowed, "But what Liz?"

She hesitated for a moment, "I do remember some of what happened. I think remember that right after I got shot I was laying on the floor of the restaurant and I remember for like a split second Max being there with me. I felt something, I don't know what it was, I can't fully explain it, but I felt this connection with him, like somehow we were linked together. Like somehow we were a part of each other."

"What do mean?" Maria asked her trying to understand.

Liz shook her head in frustration, "I don't know for sure what I mean." she told her. "I'm not really sure, every thing right now seems like this crazy impossibility to me. You are all telling me that last night I was laying in the hospital room, dying of a gunshot wound to the chest and here I am talking to you perfectly fine. I keep trying to remember, but like I said there are only tiny pieces, like I can remember feelings or emotions, but not really what happened. I kind of feel like I need to remember though you know."

Maria looked into Liz eyes, "Ok listen to me. I want you to close your eyes and take in deep breaths." she told her. "You said you remembered how you felt maybe just try to focus on that part." she suggested.

Liz took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. She thought about the day before, replayed all the events leading up to what happened and tried to picture it. Suddenly she felt overwhelmed with emotions, "I was alone even though the room was filled with people and there was so much pain." she told her. I felt really cold and then all the sudden someone was there with me." Her eyes filled with tears.

"Liz that must have been so awful." Maria sympathized with her.

Liz nodded her head, "Yeah it was..." she said as she got to her feet and walked over to the window. "I don't want to think about it anymore" she told her as she sudden felt overwhelmed by fear. Her heart began pounding faster and she felt trapped.

Maria shook her head. "Ok we won't talk about it, but Liz what about that mark on your chest?"

Liz wiped the tears from her eyes, "I don't know." she told her as she opened the window to let some fresh air in. The room suddenly felt very closed in and small to her. "Maria I haven't told anyone about this, you're the only one. You have to promise me not to say anything."

Maria shook her head, "Yeah of course."

"I mean it, promise me you wont say anything to anyone about what I told you or about this." she said pointing at her chest.

"Liz what are you afraid of?" Maria asked her seeing the fear in her eyes.

"If they find out, if they see this then they will know." Liz told her as she began pacing back and forth. "They will come for me. You have to promise please don't say anything!"

"They'll know what?" Maria asked, not sure she was understanding what she meant.

"They'll know someone or something came to that hospital and healed me." Liz told her then said "They will take me Maria, they will lock me away somewhere. You heard that doctor they will lock me away and..." the more she thought about how she felt the stronger the fear got and she couldn't control it.

Maria grabbed her hand, "Liz stop!" she told her, "Your freaking yourself out. Just calm down. I won't tell anyone and its all going to be fine. I will go to my moms store and get some makeup cleanser the best I can find and we will just wash that thing off and then no one will ever know it was there."

Liz nodded her head, "Ok yeah." she said trying to calm her heart rate. "Thank you Maria."

Maria pulled her into her arms and held her friend, "It's ok. Really it's all ok." she assured her.

Max tossed and turned in his bed. His breathing was restricted and he felt like his chest was on fire, there was so much pain. He felt alone, the room was dark and cold and he was afraid but then suddenly someone was there with him. He rolled over and grabbed the blankets and pulled them up around him. He suddenly felt overwhelmed with fear, he looked around the room it was small and felt confined. He needed to get out, he needed to hide. They were coming for him, they knew what he did, they knew who he was and that he was the one who healed Liz. His heart was beating out of his chest as he suddenly sat up in bed and called out, "Please don't tell!"

Michael came into Max room and saw him, "Hey Max you alright?" he called out to him.

Max jumped up with a startled look on his face, he looked around realizing he was in his room, "Yeah I'm fine." he told him even though he felt strange. "I'm just a little tired, but other wise fine." he lied.

"You look like hell, what did you have a bad dream?" Michael asked him.

Max shook his head as he crawled out of bed and slipped on a tee-shirt. "maybe I'm not sure." he told him then said, "What are you doing here Michael?"

"I thought you might want to know Liz went home from the hospital today." he told him.

Max walked over and opened his window, "How do you know that?" he asked him as he breathed in the fresh air.

"I went over there to see how she was, told the nurse on duty I was a friend from school and I heard about the shooting." he told him. "She said that she couldn't give me any details regarding Liz's condition, but that she went home with her family early this morning."

Max smiled, "Thanks for letting me know." he told him feeling better now that he was awake.

"I'm guessing that we must be safe since there are no FBI guys dressed in black, knocking at our door." Michael told him, "Do you think Liz knows it was you who healed her?"

Max shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure." was all he said then added, "But like you said no FBI means that even if she did know it was me she hasn't said anything to anyone."

Michael nodded his head, "Still might not be a bad idea for you to keep your distance for a while." he told him.

Max took in a deep breath, "I will keep that in mind." he told him. "I know whats at stake here."

Michael shook his head, "Sure you do." he mumbled more to himself. "I will see you later, I'm going to go catch the game its on soon."

Max took in a deep breath and then went into get a shower. He knew Michael was worried about what could happen now that he had exposed them all and he had a right to be. Seeing Liz lying there on the floor he couldn't just do nothing. He had to help her. He had to do what ever he could to save her. He wondered if she remembered any of what happened and if she did how would she react to him. "please don't let her see me as a freak, and please don't let her hate me." he mumbled to himself as he finished showering and got dressed.

Liz paced back in forth in her room trying really hard to keep calm. She glanced over at the clock and wondered where Maria might be. It had already been over an hour since she left. She climbed out unto her balcony and walked over to the edge. She closed her eyes and tried to think about what had happened the night before. She concentrated on trying to remember, but it was no use. She took in a deep breath and walked back inside, she went into her bathroom and pulled up her shirt. The hand print was still there. She took her hand and carefully placed it over the top of the hand print, suddenly her mind was flooded with memories. She remembered it was really cold, colder than she had ever been before. She remembered feeling really weak and having a really hard time breathing. It was dark, and she knew she was dying, but then something happened. She tried to remember there was someone there with her, they called out to her, she remembered hearing her name and suddenly she realized she wasn't alone. Then she felt a touch, someones hand placed over her heart and healed her. She remembered feeling waves of warmth coursing through her entire body as she grew stronger, the pain disappeared and she could breath again. Just as suddenly as the visions came on they were gone. She opened her eyes and took her hand away from her chest, "someone was there with me." she mumbled to herself.

Just as Liz came back out of the bathroom Maria came through the door. "Did you get it?" she asked her.

Maria held up the bag she was carrying. "I had to make my mother open her store so I could get this stuff." she told her. "Now this is supposed to be some of the best makeup remover on the market. They use it to remove theatrical make up." she told her.

"Well lets try see if it works." she told her as she reached for the bottle and went into the bathroom. Maria followed behind her. Liz opened the bottle and poured out its contents on to the rag and then began working it into her skin, she scrubbed as hard as she could, but it didn't even fade. She looked up at Maria, "Now what do I do?" she asked her.

Maria looked at the mark and shook her head, "Hope it goes away on its own, or tell your parents about it." she told her.

Liz thought about it, "I can't say anything to anyone else about this." she told her again, "Maria you saw the way that doctor was acting toward me, its was like he wanted to lock me away in a cage and turn me into his own private little lab rat. It was seriously scary. I would hate to think of what he would do to the person who healed me."

"Seriously he was intense, did you see how upset he was that Dr. Pritchard released you." Maria laughed as she remembered the expression on his face.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I just wish I could remember."

Maria looked intently at her, "Liz maybe its better that you don't really remember what happened." she told her. "Think about," she paused for a minute, "If someone came into your room and healed you, think about what people in the government would do to someone with that kind of ability?"

Liz took in a deep breath, "Your right, who ever it was risked everything to help me." she told her.

Maria grew really quiet for a minute, "Liz what about school, people are going to be asking questions. I mean it everyone is going to want to know what happened. You were dying and now a few hours later and your fine. This kind of thing doesn't happen every day. What do you tell them?"

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah I know, I will just have to deal with it the best I can. I just hope that the longer I say I don't remember the less interested people will be." she told her.

"What if this gets out...you know into the news? I mean this is Roswell, people are going to think things and say things..." Maria told her.

"My dad said he was going to handle things." she told her. It was the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door that interrupted their conversation.

"Liz honey its mom can you open the door." she called.

Maria jumped off the bed and opened the door, "Sorry Mrs. Parker I must have hit the lock without realizing." she said to explain why the door was locked.

Nancy smiled, "Its fine," she said as she came into the room, "Liz honey, the sheriff is downstairs he says he has some questions for you and Maria about what happened, do you feel up for it?"

Liz looked over and Maria, "Umm, yea I guess so. Not sure what I can tell him though." she said. "Can I have just a minute though mom we will be right down, I'm feeling a bit cold I want to change my top." she said as she walked over to her dresser.

"Of course." her mom told her, "Just don't be to long." she said as she closed the door behind her.

Liz pulled out her blue hoodie and slipped it on, "I don't want to take any chances with this thing" she told Maria as she zipped up the hoodie and covered the hand print.


	3. Chapter 3

Jeff was standing at the counter with the sheriff when they both walked into the restaurant, "Hello Liz, Maria."

"Hello" they both answered together.

"I have already spoken with your parents Liz as well as your mom Maria so they are aware that I just have a few routine questions about what happened here yesterday." the sheriff told them. "Liz if you will sit down here this won't take very long. Maria, my deputy is going to take you over to the booth and ask you some questions as well."

Maria nodded her head and followed the deputy over to the front of the restaurant. Liz sat down at the counter with her father and the sheriff.

He smiled at Liz, "You are one very lucky young lady Liz." he told her as he took off his hat. "I was over at the hospital this morning just after you left and the doctor filled me in on your miraculous recovery. We are all very glad that your still here with us."

Liz smiled, "Yeah I can't believe everything that has happened." she told him. "Its all so surreal."

The sheriff smiled, "Well I don't want you to worry, we are going to do our best to catch these two guys who did this." he told her.

Liz nodded her head, "You don't think they would try to come back here do you?"

The sheriff shook his head, "No, but we still want to get an accurate description out as soon as possible." he told her then said, "So what happened here yesterday? Can you tell me in your own words what you remember."

"Well I was working with Maria, we were really busy because of the convention and things were kind of crazy." she told him then said, "I remember Maria yelling out to me about two guys fighting."

"Where were these two guys exactly?" the sheriff asked her.

Liz tried to remember, "I think they were in the first booth near the register." she pointed over toward the door.

"Did you get a good look at them?" he asked her.

"No, it wasn't my station, it was Maria's" she explained. "I remember looking over and then the shot went off and..." she paused for a moment, "I can't remember anything after that."

"Liz do you remember where you were standing when the gun went off?" he asked her.

"Umm yeah, I was just over there by the drink machine. I was just getting some customers their drinks." she told him.

"Which customers, do you remember?" he asked her. "We want to talk with everyone who was in the restaurant at the time of the shooting. Things were so crazy that some of the witnesses ran out before we could get statements."

"There were some boys from school sitting in one of the booths. I had already put their order in, but I was slow getting them their drinks so I was standing over their getting them when the gun went off." she told him.

The sheriff smiled, "Of course. Well I may have some more questions for you, often in times like these our memories have a way of coming back to us once the dust has settled. Do you know who the boys were we will want to talk to them too."

Liz nodded, "Max Evans and his friend Michael." she told him.

"What about when you were at the hospital, what can you remember about what happened there?" he asked her.

She shook her head, "Nothing really." she told him then said, "like I said its all so vague."

"Thank you Liz you have been really helpful." he told her.

Liz just nodded her head and then looked over at Maria who was just finishing up with the deputy. "So dad are you planing to keep the restaurant closed all day today?" she asked him.

The sheriff picked up his hat, "I told your father I thought it might be best, there were a lot of people in here yesterday and until you and your family have decided on just how much information you want to release to the media I think it for the best."

"Oh, I didn't realize this would draw so much attention." she mumbled softly.

The sheriff smiled, "Well you can be sure the press will be here, if not today then in the morning. The shooting went out over the police blotter so I am sure the media will have a lot of questions once they get wind of your recovery." he told her then asked, "Liz let me ask you something, have you ever experienced anything like this before? I mean when you have gotten sick or hurt yourself have you always healed quickly?"

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "I don't think so, I guess I never really thought about it." she told him.

Jeff reached over and patted her on the hand, "Liz never really did get to sick when she was little, and I don't think she has ever had any kind of serious accident." he told the sheriff. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering, Dr. Hastings seems to believe that its possible Liz's own immune system healed itself." he told them, "If the news people get wind of that they will have a field day and well things could get crazy around here. I just want to be ready if I need to help with security here for a while. Liz there are going to be a lot of people asking a lot of questions, so if you do remember anything else you let me know." he told her.

She shook her head, "I will." she told him.

Jeff took in a deep breath, "Well thank you sheriff." he told him as he walked over to the door. Liz just sat there while her dad let the sheriff out, and relocked the door. For the first time since waking up last night she realized the significance of what happened to her. This one moment, this crazy unexplainable moment was going to change her entire life forever and she didn't want that but it was already to late and there was nothing she could do.

"Liz honey you all right?" her dad asked her as he walked back over. "You have this really far away look in your eyes."

Liz shook her head and faked a smile, "Yeah I am fine dad. I just feel bad, this convention is one of your biggest money makers and now you're loosing out on it."

"It's alright Lizzy, your more important to us then this restaurant." he told her. "Your mother and I wanted you to know that we spoke with our lawyer and gave him a statement about what happened. He is going to handling things. I will make sure he lets the hospital staff know that we expect them to respect our privacy."

Liz got to her feet, "Ok dad." was all she said as she and Maria turned to leave.

"Lizzy if anyone, especially anyone you don't know should come up to you and ask you questions then just tell them you have no comment." he warned her.

Liz nodded her head and smiled, "Sure thing dad." she said before they went upstairs.

Maria leaned over and whispered, "You sure, you can handle this?" she asked her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I hope so, I guess I don't really get a choice." she told her as they climbed the stairs and went back into her room.

Max had pretty much kept to himself all day, he wanted more than anything to talk to Liz and to just make sure she really was alright, but he had made a promise to both Isabel and Michael to stay away. All day he struggled with the feelings he was getting from her. He didn't really know how to explain it, but since healing her, he felt things from her in away he never had from any other person. She was struggling with so much confusion about what had happened. He wished he could talk with her. He wished he could let her know everything was going to be alright. He reached over and grabbed his coat and decided a late night walk was what he needed to clear his mind. It was possible that he was just imagining these feelings where coming from Liz as an excuse to go to her. With out thinking he found himself walking in the general direction of the Crashdown. He had actually spent many nights standing in this spot looking up at the balcony and thinking of Liz. She was the one person he had connected with when he first came to Roswell. They were both in the third grade and he remembered seeing her for the first time as he got off the school bus. Some of the other kids treated him, Isabel, and Michael like outsiders because of the circumstance around their adoption but not Liz. When the teacher stood him in front of the class and introduced him to everyone it was Liz who made a place for him to sit at her table. She was so kind to him that day, she helped him with everything and even shared some of her lunch with him. That entire year every school day was the one thing that he looked forward to most because she was always there ready to be his friend. Max smiled, the memories made him feel just a little bit better. He took in a deep breath and turned to go home, but stopped abruptly as Liz came around the corner and bumped into him. "Liz!" he said shocked to see her.

"Max...I'm so sorry. I didn't see you." she said just as surprised to see him as he was her. Truth was she had just been thinking about him and the first time they had met in the third grade.

"Its alright, really I was just out for a walk." he told her.

Liz smiled, "Yeah me too." she said as she gently brushed her hair away from her face. "It's so funny that I should run into you. I was just thinking about you and that first day we met. It was in the third grade, Mrs. Hanson's class right?" she told him.

Max wasn't sure what to say, "Yeah, she made me stand up in the front of the class to introduce myself and you let me sit with you at your table."

Liz smiled, 'Its seems like forever ago now." she told him.

"Yeah." was all he said.

Liz looked up at the sky, "It is a beautiful night, great weather for a walk." she told him trying desperately to think of something to say.

"Yeah it really is. The skies are clear so the stars are really beautiful." he told her.

Liz looked up into the sky, there was a full moon, "Yeah it's really amazing." she told him.

Max searched for something to say, "So anything new happening?" he asked without thinking.

Liz laughed, "Well there's been a few things going on." she told him.

Max shook his head, he felt so stupid, "That was so lame, I am so sorry Liz I didn't mean..." he told her.

Liz smiled, "Its fine really, its kind of nice to know that at least someone is willing to treat me normal in spite of what the news has been saying all day." she told him.

Max could tell she was dealing with a lot, "Yeah I can only imagine." he told her.

"Um Max about what happened..." she started to say.

Max took in a deep breath, his heart began racing, "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say thanks, Maria told me how you came over and tried to stop the bleeding." Liz told him.

"You don't have to thank me Liz." He told her.

"Yeah I do..." she whispered softly. "It meant a lot to me, when I was lying there just before the ambulance came I thought I remembered seeing your face..." she told him, "It was really comforting to see a friend. I don't remember very much, but I remember seeing you at that last moment and it just made me feel so much better."

"I'm just really glad you are alright." he told her as he stared into her eyes.

Liz's phone went off and she pulled it out of her pocket, "Another unknown number, probably another reporter." she mumbled.

"So the press is already calling about what happened?" he asked.

She nodded her head, "Yeah. The sheriff came by and had questions for me. I guess he is talking with everyone that was there. Maria gave them a description of the guys, but he said he was talking to everyone" she told him then asked, "Has he talked with you yet?"

Max shrugged his shoulders, "I am going in tomorrow morning to talk with him." he told her, "My dad wanted me to wait until he was there with me."

Liz smiled, "Yeah my dad was with me, made me feel a little better having him there." she told him. "It wasn't any big deal, but it was still strange having the police question me. It's not like I could tell them anything though."

"Don't you remember what happened?" he asked her.

"No not really." she told him. "There are some vague images, but after that gun went off the last thing I remember seeing was your eyes."

Max could feel how much that meant to her, "Liz if you need anything," he told her, "You have my cell phone number."

She shook her head, "yeah I do." she smiled.

He took in a deep breath then looked down at his watch, "Well I guess I should get going let you get home."

Liz nodded, "Yeah my dad is probably checking in on me again and will be wondering where I am." she laughed.

"See you at school." he told her.

"I'm not sure if I will be there or not. Guess it depends on how crazy things get." she told him. "My mom seems to think this is just the calm before the storm."

Max shook his head, "Maybe it won't be to bad. I hope it won't." he said softly.

Liz wanted more than anything to talk to him about what happened, but she just didn't know how to. She didn't want to upset him or scare him by dumping everything she was dealing with on his shoulder. She smiled, "see you at school." she said as she hurried up the stairs to her room.

Max watched as she went inside, he knew deep down something was upsetting her and she had wanted to talk to him, but he didn't know how to bring it up. He took in a deep breath and decided maybe it was better to leave things unsaid between them, at least for now. One thing he was sure about was the connection he had with her at the hospital was still there and in some unexplainable way it felt like it was getting stronger.

Liz went into her room and sat down write in her journal,

_I saw Max tonight and I remembered seeing him just after I was shot. It was so strange but I remember feeling so safe when I looked into his eyes. I felt that way again tonight too. He has amazing eyes, they are the perfect shade of brown and as I stood there talking with him I found myself feeling like maybe everything really will be alright..._

Isabel heard Max as he climbed back into his bedroom window, she went into his room, "So how is Liz did you check up on her?" she asked him.

He took in a deep breath, "I'm sorry Isabel, I know I said I would stay away, but I just kept feeling these things from her." he told her.

Isabel smiled, "Max its ok." she told him then said, "Are you still feeling that connection with her?"

He shook his head, "Yeah I am and I think it's actually getting stronger." he told her.

Isabel eyes narrowed, "Max when you say it's getting stronger what do you mean exactly?" she asked him.

"Its like I am feeling what she is feeling. When I focus on her I can pick up on it even more." he told her.

Isabel took in a deep breath, "Max if you can feel what she is feeling do you think its possible she could be doing the same thing?" she asked him. "If this link is getting stronger than the chances that it works both ways are probably pretty good don't you think?"

Max shook his head, "It is possible I guess." he told her as he thought about what Liz said when he ran into her that she had just been remembering the first time they met. That was exactly what he had thought about in that moment. So then the question on his mind was did he think of that memory first or did she.


	4. Chapter 4

Liz woke up early the next morning, it was Sunday and she normally would be up and ready for the breakfast crowd, but with her dad keeping the Crashdown closed again today she found that she had some free time. She went into her bathroom and took a long steamy hot shower. It felt good to just wash away some of the crazy events of the past couple of days. She looked down and saw that the glowing hand print was still there and no amount of washing was helping. Liz stepped out of the shower and dried herself off, she paused and looked into the mirror to look at the mark on her chest. She reached up and began to trace the outline of the hand print. As she did she suddenly felt that connection she had felt before, it was strange and foreign, but made her feel safe all at the same time. She placed her hand down over the hand print and her mind was instantly filled with flashes and images. She hurried getting dressed and took out her journal. She had to write done what was happening to her,

_I feel like maybe I am loosing my mind because the things happening to me can't really be happening. My mind tells me logically what I am seeing and feeling makes no sense and yet it is happening. Its been two days since I was shot and all I can do is think about that night as I lay there in the hospital. I know no one would ever believe me about any of this unless they saw this mark that still remains on the area where I was healed. This strange glowing hand print that lingers is still a link between us some how. This morning I placed my hand over the mark and my mind was filled with images. This happened once before but this time when I saw things, it was so much more clear then before. Even though I can't fully remember what happened that night, I do remember it was cold and the room was dark. It was darker then anything I have ever experienced before. I was in so much pain and I just knew that I was going to die. As I lay there I felt really weak, so helpless, and I can remember having a really hard time breathing and then someone touched me. I felt a strong hand over my chest and waves of warmth rushed through me. I could hear his voice, and in a moment I felt strong and I could breath normal again. I can't help but wonder if it was in that moment that I was healed, and if so who was it that healed me? I keep thinking if this is all true then I shouldn't even really be here, and yet I am...and this hand print that connects me to the stranger who healed me is proof._

Liz closed her journal and tucked it safely back inside her brink wall where no one would find it. She took in a deep breath, it felt like the room was closing in on her and she needed to breath. She needed to be outside and away from the Crashdown for awhile. Every time she walked through the restaurant she saw flashes and images of the gun pointed at her and going off. It was like reliving it over and over again. She decided a drive over to Maria's so they could hang out for awhile. She knew that would help to take her mind off of things. She headed downstairs to let her dad know where she was going. As she came through the kitchen door she was shocked to see so many people just outside the restaurant. She could see through the shades all the cameras that it was news people. "Dad what is going on?" she asked.

Jeff turned around and walked over toward her with another man following close behind him Liz recognized him right away as Max's father, "Lizzy this is Mr. Evans, he is our lawyer and he is going to be handling things for us."

Philip smiled and shook her hand, "Hi Liz."

"Mr. Evans..." she smiled at the coincidence of it all, "I had no idea you worked with my dad."

"Yeah, your dad and I actually go way back, all the way to grade school." he told her, "I hope your alright with me dealing with this for you?"

Liz shook her head, "yeah of course, umm what exactly are we dealing with though?" she asked them. She knew that the news had run with the story about her being shot and then miraculously healed, but she was shocked to see so many reporters just outside the Crashdown.

Philip pointed outside the doors, "Those are reporters attempting to get a story from you. I know at this point you would probably just as soon forget all that has happened and get back to life as normal, but unfortunately the world doesn't always work that way so I have a few questions for you and then I will take it from there."

"Ok." she agreed not really sure what to expect.

Jeff went behind the counter and poured them some coffee, "Lizzy you want some tea or anything?"

"No dad I'm fine." she said as she sat down at the counter.

Philip opened up his briefcase and pulled out a notepad, "Now Liz I have all the particulars from the doctor who performed your surgery as well as the sheriffs findings so far what I am wanting to know from you, is from your own perspective what did you want to say?"

Jeff looked at Liz, "she doesn't remember what happened, do you Lizzy?"

"No I have some vague memories of being here and then waking up at the hospital, but nothing solid." She told him. "It's all very fuzzy."

"That's fine, honestly in these kinds of stories its better to just tell them that you don't know what happened and that you have no comment." he told her, "I just wanted to be sure you were alright with us proceeding in that vain."

"Yeah its the truth. I'm really thankful for whatever it was that healed me, but I honestly don't know how it happened." she told him. "Its all just so unbelievable and yet I keep getting told that's what happened.

Philip smiled, "I can imagine how strange it must be to have everyone telling you this kind of thing and have no memory of it at all." he told her then said, "How about now, your feeling fine?" he asked her.

"Yeah, just thankful to be here." she told him honestly.

Philip smiled, "Alright then I am just going to prepare my information here and go feed the loins." he teased her.

Liz laughed, "You don't think this is going to go on for to long, do you? Its just like you said I would really like to have life go back to normal, and there is school."

"I think that it will blow over soon enough, most of the time these reporters hang around just long enough to get their story and if they realize there isn't one they move on. I suspect within a few days this will all blow over and they will be on their way for the next big story." Philip told her.

Liz got up and turned to her dad, "Well I wanted to go see Maria for awhile this morning so I am going go out the back way..." she told her dad.

Both Jeff and Philip shook their heads, "I don't think that is such a good idea just now Liz." Philip told her.

Jeff came around the corner, "Lizzy I think your going to need to stay home for at least a couple of days just to give this thing some time to loose steam." he told her.

Liz looked over at the crowd and nodded, "Ok I guess I will be upstairs then." she said as she headed back up the to her room. She was beginning to feel more like a prisoner by the moment. She went into her bedroom and climbed out onto her balcony. As she walked over to the rail and looked down several men came running toward her with their cameras flashing. She stepped back and climbed through her window, she took in a deep breath. She really did feel like a prisoner.

Max got up and headed downstairs for breakfast, he couldn't shake this feeling of being trapped. When he woke up Liz was on his mind, he could feel how alone and confused she was. He wished there was more he could do to help her, but he had promised to stay away. He sat down at the table to eat his cereal as Isabel came walking into the kitchen. "hey."

"Max come out here you have to see this," Isabel told him as she walked back out into the living room.

Max picked up his bowl and followed her. He stopped when he saw his dad on the TV standing in front of the Crashdown.

"At this time the family wants to thank everyone for their understanding and well wishes. As you can imagine they are very thankful that this story has a happy ending and are just looking for life to get back to normal for their daughter." Philip told them.

One of the reporters called out, "Mr. Evans we were told that Elizabeth Parker was actually pronounced dead on two separate occasions before she was brought back, once on the scene and then again at the hospital?"

Philip looked down over his notes, "That is not true, lets not exaggerate this story into more then what it is. At no time did any medical professional make any kind of declarations that my client was dead or had died." he told them.

The same reporter called out again, "Yes but the paramedics did say that they lost her heart beat for a few moments when they initially arrived on the scene isn't that true."

Philip shook his head, "Yes I was told that Miss Parker's heart did stop, but only for a few seconds and that is really not all that uncommon." he told them, "They were able to use CPR and she responded very quickly.'

"Can we expect Miss Parker to be giving an interview in the near future?" another reporter called out.

"No Miss Parker and her family have said all they want to on the matter. While they are very great full for their daughters miraculous recovery they have no other information to share. Its just another one of those unexplainable occurrences, a true miracle." Philip answered. "Jeff Parker and his wife prayed for a miracle and that is exactly what they got."

"Is the family very religious. Do they believe that angels were involved?" the same reporter asked.

"As I said Miss Parker has no memory of what happened, she is just very grateful to be here today. As you can imagine this was a traumatic event in this young lady's life so I hope you all will respect her need for privacy and desire to get back into life's normal routine." Philip told them.

"Will Miss Parker being seeking some kind of counseling then?" another reporter called out.

Philip shook his head, "I don't believe there are any immediate plans of that kind, she has her family and close friends around her for support. The family just really would appreciate that everyone respect their need for privacy and let them deal with this as they see best. Thank you for coming I have no further comments for you at this time." Philip told them.

"So there you have it, the family says that they just want life to carry on as normal and hopes everyone will respect their privacy. One has to consider though, if that is really possible considering that this is Roswell, New Mexico home of the famous unidentified flying aircraft crash that happened in 1947. Is it possible that this young girl was just really lucky, and as has been suggested a miracle happened to save her life or could it be that there really was an alien crash all those years ago and even now there are those with incredible powers unlike any that we have ever known actually walk and live among us everyday. Could it be that Liz Parker's amazing recovery was the result of one such encounter? Or could there be more to this story. Stay with us as we look to ask the serious questions and find out the truth. Who is Liz Parker really? Is she, as the family wants us to believe just a typical teenage girl, lucky to be alive or is there more happening that has yet to be uncovered. We promise to dig deeper, to find the answer to the question on everyone's mind here in Roswell and around the country. The question that even she says she can't answer, how is it possible that Elizabeth Parker was shot at close range, took a bullet to her chest, and then got up and walked out of the hospital just hours later? This is Lisa Gibbs for channel two news."

Isabel shut off the TV and looked up at Max, "This is getting so out of control. Max you have to stay away from her. I mean it, I know that you really care about her, but until this calms down Michael is right we all have to keep a really low profile." she reminded him.

Max didn't say anything, he just went back into the kitchen and put his dishes away. He took in a deep breath, he felt so bad for Liz but he knew if he got to close he would only bring further risk to them all.  
As he stood there thinking about her the feelings of being trapped grew even stronger. "I am so sorry Liz." he felt guilty for everything she was going through. He was just about to go upstairs when Michael came in through the back door.

"Hey Maxwell did you two see the news this morning?" Michael asked him as Isabel came into the room.

Max walked over and sat down at the table, "Yeah we saw it." he told him.

Michael sat down across from him, "Did you know your dad was handling this?" he asked him.

Isabel poured herself some tea, "No we didn't know, he doesn't talk about his work that much."

"What if she talks to your dad about what happened?" Michael asked him. "He is going to ask questions, questions we don't have answers for."

"Michael don't panic, Liz hasn't said anything so far because if she had we would be the ones with the FBI dragging us away in unmarked black vans." Isabel told him.

"Yeah well I hate this not knowing where we stand with her." he told her impatiently.

Max shrugged his shoulders, "Well what exactly do you suggest we do about it?"

"I don't know." he told him. "Maybe I should talk to that friend of hers, see what I can find out?"

Isabel and Max both shook their heads, "I really don't think that is a good idea Michael." Isabel told him.

"Well what do you two suggest then, just sit around and play wait and see?" He snapped.

Max took in a deep breath, "Its the best plan we have for now Michael."

"yeah well I don't like it." he told him.

"Big surprise." Isabel told him.

Max could see Michael was frustrated and that was not a good thing. "Listen I will talk to my dad, see what I can find out." he told them both.

"You don't think that will seem strange, you all the sudden asking about one of his clients." Isabel told him.

"Isabel since Liz is in three of my classes it would probably seem more strange to him if I don't ask." he told her then turned to Michael, "I will see what I can find out and I will let you know. Until then just try to keep from doing anything rash."

Michael hated it when Max talked to him like he was a child, "Yeah fine, but just remember I'm not the one who put us in this position in the first place..." he said as he got up and headed for the door.

Isabel took in a deep breath, "Both of you just calm down. Fighting is not going to get us anywhere." she told them.

"She's right." Max told her. He glanced up at the clock. "Come on we have to meet my dad at the sheriff office to give our statements." he reminded Michael.

"Yeah fine." he said as he followed Max out to the jeep. "You got the story, we were there, we didn't see anything, we ran because we weren't sure if the shooter was still there."

"Yeah I got it." Max told him.

Liz sat down on the lounging chair on her balcony, at least she was able to be outside instead of being cooped up in her room all day. Having her dad call the sheriff and keep the reporters further back from the back of the restaurant helped a lot. She took in a deep breath and just tried to relax. The sunshine felt nice, it wasn't to hot and the breeze helped to cool her off. She thought about how many little things there were in life that she really enjoyed and appreciated. She loved the way it smelled just after a rain storm. She loved the way the sun drifted slowly down over the horizon at the end of the day and how the stars filled the sky each night. She took in a deep breath, flipped open her journal and began writing...

_I keep thinking about the look in Max's eyes as I lay there on the floor of the Crashdown. I know it sounds strange, but it haunts me in a way I can put down in words. Its like, when I look into his eyes I know if I tried I could see so much more and yet I am so afraid to try. It so strange that his dad turned out to be my dads attorney, and he is the one handling all the press on this. I keep wondering if Mr. Evans being involved is fate working to draw Max and I together. I know I sound crazy, but some how I feel connected to him but I can't explain why. Could it be because in that moment as I lay dying he came to me, he tried to help me? I have always tried to explain things I don't understand with science but now I have to look elsewhere to find answers. Things are so out of control for me because I was healed, but I don't want to show it. Seeing the press waiting outside my door only makes me realize how much was risked to save me. Who ever it was risked their own life to save me and I find myself asking why? Why save me..._


	5. Chapter 5

The sheriff came into his office, where Michael, Max, and Phillip were waiting for him, "So I appreciate you two boys coming forward." he told them. He reached out and shook Phillips hand before sitting down behind his desk. "Phillip thank you for coming I know you have been busy."

Phillip slipped his cell phone into his coat pocket, "Sorry Jim this thing has been going off non stop."

"I can imagine." he said as opened a note pad. "How is Liz doing this morning?" he asked. "I saw some of the interview on the news."

"She is shaken by all the attention." he told him, "I think she hasn't really dealt with everything that has happened yet. She wanted to go to see her friends this morning, but the reporters were so crazy her dad and I advised against it."

"I sent some officers over there a while ago." he told him then added, "Hopefully things will all settle down soon."

"I hope so." Phillip told him. "They are a good family and right now I think this kind of attention is not something any of them wanted."

"Yeah the press can be brutal." he agreed then turned his attention to Max and Michael, "So can you tell me in your own words what happened yesterday at the Crashdown?"

Max took in a deep breath, "Well we went to the Crashdown for lunch and it was really busy so we had to wait for a little bit to get seated." he explained.

Michael nodded, "With the convention going on the place was busier than usual."

"Once we got our booth, Liz came over and we ordered lunch. She talked with us for a few minutes and then she left to get our drinks and put in our order." Max told him.

"Did either of you get a look at the two guys with the gun?" the sheriff asked them.

Max shook his head, "No I didn't see them." was all he said.

Michael took in a deep breath, "I didn't really either. It was loud and busy so I didn't notice them until Maria yelled out to Liz that they had a gun."

"Then what happened?" the sheriff asked.

"Everything went crazy, people where screaming, and diving down under the tables." Michael told him.

"That is when Miss Parker was shot?" the sheriff commented.

Max nodded his head, "Yeah everyone else went down to the floor, but she was over by the soda machine and unaware of what was happening I guess. The gun went off just as she turned and she went down to the floor." he described it exactly as it happened those images of seeing her hurt burned into his mind.

"And Michael you were down on the floor two at that point?" the sheriff asked.

"Yeah." he told him. "I think everyone was."

"So according to Maria Deluca the two of you attempted to help Miss Parker. She said Max tried to stop the bleeding and that Michael helped with crowd control, is that right?" the sheriff asked.

Max glanced over toward Michael and his dad then back to the sheriff, "I did run over to Liz, she was bleeding pretty badly. I tried to apply some pressure to the wound to slow it down, but I don't think it helped much." he told him then said, "I was only with her for a minute or so then the paramedics came rushing in and Michael pulled me back away from her so they could get in and do their work."

"I saw the paramedics pull up and I pulled Max back so they could get in and take over. It was about that time that we heard what sounded like more shots coming from the back of the building and we ran out the front not sure what was happening. Things were crazy and we just wanted to get out of there. Everyone was running for cover so I grabbed Max and pulled him out with me." Michael explained.

"Several witnesses reported more gunshots from the alley just behind the Crashdown, but we haven't been able to verify that any more were fired. It could have been a car back firing." the sheriff told them then asked, "So did either of you boys go over to hospital after Liz was taken away in the ambulance?"

Max shook his head, "No Michael drove us back to my house and we stayed there watching the news and trying to see what we could find out." he told him.

Michael looked at Max, "Max wanted to go over to the hospital, but I told him it would probably be better to wait as her family would be there and they would probably want some privacy."

The sheriff continued writing as they answered each question, "So what do you two boys make of this miraculous healing that took place?" he asked them.

Philip answered, "Sheriff I'm not sure what their opinions on what happened could be of any real benefit to the investigation. Especially since Miss Parker has made it clear that she has no further statement concerning that matter."

"I'm just trying to fill in some missing pieces here is all." he said as he turned to Max. "Have you known Liz to be absent from school often or to be sick?"

Max shook his head, "I don't know. I guess she is like everyone else, I never really paid attention." he lied.

Michael agreed, "I don't know either, I don't keep track of how often people get sick. I see her around school, and at the Crashdown, but that's about it."

"Have you ever noticed anything unusual about Liz, anything that seemed out of the ordinary?" The sheriff asked.

Max looked over at his dad, "I don't know what you mean?" he said.

Phillip took out his cell phone and glanced down, "Sheriff again I don't understand the line of questioning here?" he said.

The sheriff shook his head, "I am just attempting to look at all the possible angles." he said then added, "Doctor Hastings was the doctor on duty that night and he believes Liz may have actually some how healed herself."

Phillip shook his head, "Yes I have spoken to Doctor Hastings myself he is very eager to put his theories forward at the moment, I don't think his opinions are really to be trusted since he is looking to profit from this situation."

The sheriff wrote down some further notes, "How would he profit from this?" he asked.

"Well after I spoke with Jeff I spoke to Liz's family doctor, and he made it clear that Dr. Hastings would financially benefit if he could prove Liz's healing was an undiscovered gene in her body or something to do with her own DNA that brought about this healing. He told me that Dr. Hastings has been working with another group that has attempted to regenerate cellular tissue. I believe he was hoping to use Liz as a part of his study and further fund his grant." Phillip told him, "So I suspect he has a motive besides caring about Liz's well-being when he says he is pushing for further investigation into the matter."

The sheriff shook his head, "Thank you Phillip I wasn't aware of that." he told him as he stood up."Well thank you boys for coming in that will be all for now. If I have any further questions I will let you know."

Phillip followed Max and Michael out, "I will see you later at home." he told Max. "Good to see you again Michael." he said as he walked to his car.

Max got in the jeep and watched as his dad pulled away, "Do you want come hang out?" he asked him.

Michael shook his head, "No I have something I have to do." he told him. "I will catch you later though." he said as he walked off in the direction of the Crashdown. Max shook his head, and pulled his jeep out of the parking lot and headed home.

Liz walked out on to her balcony and looked around to make sure no reporters were attempting to scale the walls or take pictures of her. Once she decided things were clear she sat down and opened up her lap top. She had been avoiding most of the news since getting home, but her curiosity got the better of her and she signed on to see if anything was being said. She seemed to be the top story for Roswell New Mexico. One headline read, "Girl shot dead, but lives to tell about it." Liz shook her head as she scanned over the article, most of the information was either opinion or out right made up conclusions on the part of the journalists. There were several pictures posted of her that clearly had been taken with out her knowledge as she was leaving the hospital. After reading two more articles she decided she had enough, she didn't want to read anymore. She was just about to go back inside when she heard Maria calling out to her.

"Hey Liz, you out here?" Maria called as she came through her bedroom door.

"Yeah." she told her as she closed her laptop.

"Your dad told me whats going on, I had to park in the alley over a block away." she told her. "This is crazy, I had to give the police my name and show ID so they could check a list and let me in. Don't these people have a life?"

"I know I have heard about how insensitive these reporters can be, but seriously I never realized how in your face they were until now." Liz told her, "My dad actually had to call the police to keep them from climbing up to my balcony. The sheriff told them that I was not giving any kind of statement other than what my attorney shared with them, but they still have not left. At least he has some patrol men keeping them away from back here and the front of the restaurant."

Maria sat down on the chair across from her, "Speaking of which did you know your dads attorney was Max's father?"

Liz shook her head, "I had no idea." she told her then said. "I ran into Max last night."

"Did he come to the Crashdown to see you or something?" she asked.

"No he was out for a walk and so was I." she explained. "We actually just kind of ran into each other."

"So tell me what happened?" Maria asked her

Liz took in a deep breath, "Nothing really, we talked for a few minutes and then he had to go."

"Well you are not the only one that had a strange encounter?" Maria told her.

Liz eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?"

"Well just before I came up here as I was walking toward the Crashdown, Michael Guerin stopped me. "He said he just wanted to see how things are going for you?" Maria told her.

"Michael?" Liz repeated to be sure she heard her correctly. "As in Michael who never talks to anyone, but Isabel and Max...that Michael?" Liz asked completely taken by surprise.

"The one and only." Maria told her.

"What did he want?" Liz asked her.

"He wanted to know about you. He just asked how things were going, if I knew how you were doing." she told her, "I told him that you were fine and waiting for all the crazy reporters to leave so life could get back to normal again."

What did he say?" Liz asked.

"It wasn't so much what he said, but how he was acting, like he was hoping I would say something to him." she told her. "I seriously think he knows something."

Liz shook her head, "Maria trust me whoever it was that healed me it was not Michael Guerin." she told her.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked her.

Liz thought about it for a moment then shook her head, "I don't know, I just know that it was not him." she told her.

"Well even if it wasn't him, he may know who it was." she told her.

"Or he could just be looking for answers to what happened like everyone else is." Liz told her.

"Exactly." she said, "and that is why he was trying to see if we know something. He knows who it was and he is trying to find out if we know who it was. That is why I am going to spend some time with him, see what I can find out."

Liz was quiet for a moment, she took in a deep breath. "It does seem kind of odd that Michael would all the sudden show any interest in my life unless he knows something about who healed me." Liz told her.

Maria took in a deep breath, "This is really getting crazy. I heard from Michael that the sheriff had them in for questioning this morning too and he was asking questions about you."

"Yeah Max mentioned he was going to talk with him." Liz told her then said, "What kind of questions was he asking about me?"

"All kinds." she told her, "Liz even the deputy was asking me question about you, about how often you got sick, and if I had ever noticed anything out of the ordinary." Maria told her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I just wish I could remember what happened. I mean at this point I am beginning to think I am going crazy."

Maria smiled, "Well I don't think you are crazy." she told her then asked. "Is the tattoo still there?"

"It's not a tattoo and yes it is still there. I tried scrubbing it off in the shower again this morning, but it didn't do any good." Liz told her then said, Something strange did happen though."

Maria leaned over and gave her a hug, "Come on lets forget this crazy stuff, Alex will be over with Chinese any moment and I told him to get some movies that are a guarantee to make us laugh."

Liz smiled, "You guys are the best, spending your Saturday night locked away with me."

Maria headed over to the window, "You think we should tell Alex any of this?" she asked.

"I thought about it, but I don't think so." she told her, "I just think the fewer people who know what really happened, the better."

"Agreed." Maria said as she climbed back into the room. Just as Liz was about to climb in she heard a noise from behind her, it was a strange kind of clicking sounds, she looked over and saw a group of reporters standing on the roof top taking pictures. They began waving and yelling at her, "Miss Parker can we talk to you?" he yelled out at her.

Liz climbed into her room and hurriedly closed all the blinds and drapes. "Oh my gosh those reporters they are standing on the roof of the building across the alley." She told her. Maria peeked through the blinds and they were still there. Liz walked over to her door, "dad can you come here please?" she asked.

Her dad came into the room, "Whats wrong?" he asked her.

Liz told him about the reporters, "Seriously isn't there anything more that can be done?" she asked.

He took in a deep breath, "I will go and call Phillip." he told her just as Alex came into the room.

"So it crazy out there." Alex told them. "I actually had to show ID to get in."

Maria shook her head, "Yeah well there are reporters camped out on the buildings across the street now." she told him.

Alex shook his head, "They are the worst." he told her then looking over at Liz he asked, "Are you alright?"

She took in a deep breath, and shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah I am fine." she told him trying to put on a brave face.

Max tried to keep his mind off of Liz all evening, but it wasn't working so well. He kept thinking about how much her life had gotten turned upside down. He wanted more than anything to go and talk to her, let her know that hopefully very soon her life would be normal again, but truth was he did not even know if he believed that himself. He thought about Isabel and Michael, they both kept reminding him that he needed to stay away from her. Michael especially was feeling rather paranoid now that all the reporters were hanging around. He said how freaked out it made him feel with so many extra eyes and ears poking around. Max and Isabel both did their best to reassure him that everything would be fine, but some how he knew Michael would probably just take matters into his own hands. His parents both kept talking about the situation, his mom just couldn't get over what a miracle it was and his dad kept looking at him and Isabel as if he were waiting for something, perhaps a confession he thought. Max got up, took in deep breath and decided to talk with his dad better to find out what he knew then to lie in bed imagining things.

Max knocked and opened his dads door to his study, "Hey dad can I come in?"

Philip called out, "Sure Max?" he stood there, "Is there something I can help you with?" he asked him.

Max shrugged his shoulders, "not really.." he said as he walked over and picked up one of the law books off the shelf and began thumbing through it.

Philip leaned back in his chair and smiled, "Max does this have to do with Liz Parker's case or have you taken a sudden interest in becoming a lawyer?"

Max looked up and shook his head, "Umm actually I was just wondering how things were going with you. I mean having to face all those cameras and figuring out what to say to all those reporters. It must be kind of stressful."

Philip looked down at his files and then back up at Max, "Well I just told them the truth, Liz really had no comment."

Max nodded his head, "So she just doesn't want to talk about it then is that it?"

Philip thought for a moment, "Max just come out and ask what you want to do know and if I can I will tell you?" he told him. "I am aware that the two of you share a few classes together so I expected you would probably want to know about what was going on, it's perfectly normal for you to be interested."

Max tried not to seem overly interested, "We are in three classes and she is actually my lab partner in Biology so I was just wondering how she was doing?"

"She is fine, I think she is still trying to process everything that happened, but she is a very strong young woman who more than anything just seems to want to get back to living life." he told him.

"What about what happened...did she say how..." he started to ask him.

Philip took in a deep breath, "She said she can't remember anything after she was shot at the Crashdown. She has no memory of what happened."

"Do you think she is telling the truth?" Max asked him cautiously, "You seem like you have doubts."

"I'm not sure Max, she seemed really determined not to talk about what happened and honestly I think that is for the best." he told him, "Personally I really think it could just be that talking about the situation makes her uncomfortable, it was a very traumatic thing to go through. I think when she is able to come back to school you could really be a friend to her by just treating her the same as you always have." he suggested.

Max nodded his head, "Yeah I will do that." he told him as he turned to leave.

"Max just so you know, Liz is still the same person that she always was. I hope you wont feel strange or awkward around her" he told him, "There will be kids that will treat her differently because of what happened, but I hope you and Isabel are above that kind of thing." he told him. "She is the same person she has always been." He said as his phone went off, "Its Jeff Parker, I have to take this can you close the door on your way out?" he said.

Max didn't say anything else, he just nodded his head and said good night. He stood just outside his dad's office door and listened,

"I am sorry she is having to go through this Jeff." he told him. "I am afraid that because your home is in a business area of town some of the same residential rules won't apply." he said then added, "I realize they are infringing on her privacy, but if the owner of the buildings across the way allow these reporters to use their roof tops there is nothing you can do." He told him, "Jeff maybe you and Nancy should talk to Liz, she may need to go spend some time away for a while, at least until this whole thing blows over." he told him.

Max saw his mom coming downstairs so he headed back up, "Night mom." he said as he passed her in the hall. As he walked back to his room he thought about Liz. If she did know he was the one that healed her then she was keeping his secret, she was willingly protecting him. He wished there was some way he could be sure. He felt terrible that Liz was being hounded by the press like this, he wondered if there wasn't something that they could do to help. Hearing his dad suggest that Liz go and stay with relatives some place else was not something he wanted to have happen. He climbed the stairs and went into his room, he decided to wait and tell Michael and Isabel what he learned tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

The sheriff pulled out some folders from his desk drawer and began looking through them. He looked over the file he started on Liz, she was never in any kind of trouble with the law, she was a model student and she was born here in Roswell. Her past medical records were sealed and he couldn't get at them, but he did have access to her latest records because a crime was involved. He took in a deep breath, there was something he had read briefly in the nurses report about Liz Parker after she was miraculously healed that had grabbed his attention. He scanned the report and read it over again, "Patient seems distraught upon first waking up. It seemed as if she had been talking with someone, she even asked about another person as if she thought he had been there with her." He closed the file and opened another, he remembered that one of the nurses thought she heard Liz calling someones name when she first woke up, but he couldn't remember what it was. He thumbed through some more of his files until he came across his notes. He searched through until he came across the name, Max. Max was the first one to go to Liz after she was shot. He couldn't get past the feeling something more was going on than Liz was telling them. He leaned back in his chair and called out to his son, "Hey Kyle do you have a minute, I need to ask you something?"

Kyle shook his head in frustration, "dad I'm watching the game." he told him as he came into his office.

"This will only take a minute." he told him, "I wanted to ask you a couple a questions about your friend Liz."

"What about her?" he asked as he glanced back at the tv through the open door.

"You know she was shot right?" he asked him.

"Yeah I think everyone knows, its been on all the news channels." he told him then said, "But shes fine right? I mean the news said this really amazing miracle happened and she is fine?" he asked wanting to be sure.

"Yeah she is fine, in fact the doctor said there is no indication that she was ever shot. She was completely healed." he told him.

"OK so what do you want to know then?" he asked feeling annoyed about missing his game.

"The two of you dated or are dating is that right?" he asked him.

Kyle shook his head, "We dated for a few weeks, went out a couple of times, but it wasn't anything serious."

"So you're not dating now?" he asked him.

"No we just decided that we were better friends than we were as a couple." he told him then asked, "Why all this sudden interest in my love life?"

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "I'm just trying to piece together what happened to her." he told him, "Have you ever heard her mention Max Evans?"

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, "I think she is lab partners or something with Max." he told him.

"Are the two of them very close friends do you know?" his dad asked him.

"I don't really know if they are, she keeps to her circle of friends and I keep to mine. We don't hang out at school really." Kyle told him.

"Do you know if Liz and Max have ever dated?" he asked him.

Kyle threw his hands up in the air in frustrations over the game, "No..." he said as he turned his attention back to his dad. "I don't know maybe, but then again Max is kind of a quiet loner type guy. I have only ever seen him with is sister Isabel and that friend of there's."

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "Why do you think she might be calling out his name then when she woke up for the first time?"

Kyle shook his head, "I have no idea." then he asked, "You don't think Max was involved with the shooting do you? I thought the news said it they were strangers and not from around Roswell."

"No, no nothing like that." he told him and dismissed the notion, "No the two guys that involved with the shooting were more than likely not local, and we are pretty sure it was an argument that happened over a drug deal going bad." he told him.

"You mean like the cartels from Mexico?" Kyle asked.

"Could be." the sheriff told him.

"Well is Liz safe, I mean with all this news about her being healed could they come back after her?" he asked his voice filled with real concern.

"I don't think so." he told him, "Liz didn't really see them, her friend Maria did and although she has given us a description of the two we haven't had any real solid leads. I think those two are probably long gone."

"So are we done here then?" he asked.

"Just one last question in all the time you have known Liz would you say she is usually pretty healthy?" the sheriff asked him.

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, "Wow how does that have anything to do with finding these two guys that shot her?" he asked surprised by the question.

"Just answer the question Kyle, has Liz ever been sick that you know of?" the sheriff repeated his question.

"I don't know, who pays attention to stuff like that. Seriously, I don't know her whole life story." he told him.

The sheriff shook his head, "But your sure that Liz and Max never dated?" he asked him again.

Kyle let out a frustrated sigh, "I didn't say that, I said I don't know. I said I doubt that they have, but who knows why all the focus on Liz seems like your focus should be on finding the guy who pulled the trigger." he told him before he left the room.

The sheriff leaned forward and opened up his notes, he took out a new piece of paper and wrote down Liz Parker then he drew a line downward and wrote the name Max Evans and put a question mark by it.

Liz was up early for school, she was tired of sitting around at home and being confined to her room because of the press. After she came down into the kitchen she poked her head out into the restaurant. The press was still there waiting for her to come out and go to school. She shook her head, "Dad this is getting crazy, you can't open your business and I can't even go out and go for a walk if I want to." she told him.

"I'm sorry honey, I know its been really difficult but according to Philip there isn't a lot more I can do." he told her. "I did speak with the school and the sheriff agreed to post some officers there so that they can't harass you. I know you getting a ride, she knows to drive up to the back alley right?"

Liz shook her head, "yeah I told her to make sure she parks in the back so the police can keep the press back."

He smiled, "Listen it's not all bad with the restaurant closed I'm going to finally get to do some of the remodeling your mom has been wanting me to do for the past few years." he told her. "We are going to paint and recover the booths. I think mom wants to put in some different lighting too."

"That's a really great idea." she told him as Maria came through the door. "So Liz you ready?" she asked.

She shook her head, "Yes I am ready." she told her as she walked over and kissed her dad on the cheek. "I will see you later."

"Maria drive careful in case in of the press tries to follow you?" he told her.

Maria nodded her head, "Sure thing Mr. Parker." she told him as she walked out with Liz.

Liz pulled her hoodie up over her head and got into the car, she slid down into the seat and waited there as Maria drove past. After they made it past the police barricade they had to drive past the press. Liz could hear them shouting out questions at them as they drove past. Once they were on the main road she sat up and shook her head, "I can not believe they are still out there." she told Maria.

Maria shook her head, "Maybe you should totally make up a story, you know say that you suddenly remember what happened and that there were like angels in the room and you heard harp music playing from the hallway." she told her.

Liz laughed, "Yeah then I could tell them that I saw Elvis and he was the one who left this strange hand print on my chest." she told her.

Maria smiled, "It would be funny though ugh." she told her, "They would totally write the story and run with it, of course we would know none of it was true."

Maria looked up in her rear view mirror and saw a black car following them, "Is that car following us?" she asked her.

Liz looked into the side mirror, "I think it might be." she told her. "Do you think it's a reporter?"

Maria shook her head, "I don't know." she told her as she sped up and then made a sharp right turn at the light. She looked into her rear view mirror again but now the car was gone. "There gone now whoever they were."

Liz laid her head back against the seat, "I'm really sorry Maria." she told her.

Maria shrugged her shoulders, "It's not your fault besides now will just come into the school parking lot from the back entrance there won't be any press back there, security won't let them on the property.

Liz shook her head, "yeah ok." she said as she Maria pulled up to the parking lot.

Liz felt like everyone was staring at her as she made her way inside the school. She could hear them whispering and talking about her as she walked past. She sighed, it was going to be a long day, she thought to herself. She walked into her Biology class and took her. She kept her head down trying to ignore all the strange looks and whispering going on around her. The bell was just about to ring when Max walked in and sat down next to her. She waited to see if he would say anything to her, but he didn't. She tried to think of something to say to him, "Max I wanted to..." she started to say, but was interrupted by two girls who came up to her.

"So Liz I heard you were like dead and that you came back to life." the short blonde told her.

The other girl laughed and snickered, "So does that make you a zombie?"

The blonde shook her head, "No it just makes her a freak."

Liz didn't say anything she tried to ignore them, but they kept on, "So Liz come on tell us," the blonde asked, "What was it like to be dead?"

"Yeah and what happened to bring you back? Did you see bright lights? Were their angles?" the other girl asked.

The short blonde shook her head, "There weren't any angels because she never really died. I read all about you last night, it's all over reddit front page how you were a part of a government experiment. According to the news she's some kind of genetic mutant experiment funded by the government to be the next evolution of the human race."

Liz was just about to say something when Max took her hand in his and looked over at the two girls, "I can see how that is probably true." he told them, "I mean she is clearly so far superior to the two of you, in both brains and beauty."

The short blonde rolled her eyes, "What ever." she snapped as they turned and walked away.

Liz looked over at Max, he smiled at her as he let go of her hand, "Just ignore them, you are so much better than they are." he told her.

Liz brushed her hair back away from her face, "Thank you." she whispered softly, having him stand up for her meant so much. She glanced back over at him as he looked toward her, she smiled. She could not believe how awful people could be. She knew people would have questions but she never imagined they would purposely be so unkind. She decided against talking any more with Max about what happened. There were already so many people gossiping about her that she really didn't need to add to the rumor mill. When the bell rang she waited until the others left. She was just about to get up when she saw Max standing near the door, "So I thought I would walk with you?" he told her.

"You don't have to do that." she told him.

"I know." he said as he pushed opened the door for her. They walked down the hall toward her locker with people whispering about her and staring at her. She was really beginning to regret coming to school when Max leaned over and took her hand in his, held gave it a gentle squeeze to let her know it was ok.

She was just about to say something when both Alex and Maria came up, "Hey Max." Maria said.

Max shook his head, "I better get going, see you later." he said as he let her hand go.

Alex watched as Max walked away then turned to her and said, "So we thought we would buy you lunch today." he told her.

"I don't know guys I was kind of thinking I should just go home." Liz told them.

Alex shook his head, "Liz don't let it get to you, come on our treat." he told her as she put her books away.

Maria smiled, "The Liz I know doesn't run away and hide." she reminded her.

"Yeah ok." Liz smiled as they headed out to the quad.

Liz and Maria sat down while Alex went and got them their lunch. "So how bad has it been today?" Maria asked her.

"Honestly its been the worst." Liz told her.

Maria frowned, "That bad really?"

"Yeah, Maria I had no idea how completely mean some people could be." she told her. "I have had people I don't even know come up and ask all kinds of strange questions and then there are the zombie, and vampire nuts who think I am some kind of mutant."

Maria reached over and hugged her close, "Oh my poor Lizzy."

Alex walked back over and sat down giving them both their lunch, "Sorry it's not gourmet, but it is edible." he told them then said, "I think."

Liz smiled, "No its great really thank you." she told him as a group of football players walked past one of them called out to her, "So Liz whats it like to be among the living dead?" he asked her. "Do you crave human flesh zombie girl?"

"Just ignore them they are such jerks." Alex told her.

Another one called out, "We need to watch out for our boy Kyle make sure she doesn't make a meal out of him." He said as they all laughed.

Maria was just about to get up and say something when Liz pulled her back down. "Don't bother Maria, Alex is right I just need to ignore." she told her. Truth was all the looks, and comments hurt. She wasn't prepared for the way some people were treating her. Even though she was one of the smart kids and a bit of a nerd she had always felt pretty accepted in school, but that all changed now. She took in a deep breath and tried not to let it get to her, but as the day wore on it was becoming a loosing battle.

Max looked over at Liz, she looked so sad, and he missed her smile. He wished that he could go over and talk to her. He didn't know what he would say, he only knew he wanted to make her feel better. The connection he had with her was hard to ignore, he could feel how upset she was, on some level apart of her was really fighting hard not to be emotional, but all the comments stung. "I wish there was something I could do for her." he mumbled loud enough for Michael to overhear him.

Michael shook his head, "You healed her, you did enough." he told him.

"It's because I healed her that people are treating her the way they are." Max told him.

"So what.."he told him, "So she's an outcast for a few days." Michael told him as he poured more Tabasco sauce on his tacos, "I've had to live that way my whole life."

"yeah and your such a better person for it." Isabel told him.

Michael took in a deep breath, "Look all I am saying is its better her then us." he told them, "So what she has to deal with a little bit of unwanted attention, it's a small price to pay as far as I am concerned."

Isabel narrowed her eyes, "Yeah but Micheal she didn't ask to get shot."

"I didn't ask to be left stuck on this awful planet, but here I am." he told her, "Life sucks sometimes you just have to deal with it."

"Max I know its difficult, but we can't get any more involved." Isabel told him. "I hate to admit it, but Michael is right. Liz will be alright and we need to keep our distance."

"I know, we need to keep a low profile." he agreed. He couldn't help how guilty he was feeling.

Maria glanced over in Max's direction then she leaned over to Liz, "He is staring at you again."  
When Liz didn't say anything she asked, "You should talk to him, I know you like him and clearly he has a thing for you. How sweet was he to walk you to your locker."

Liz looked over toward Max and smiled. He smiled back her. "I do like him, he has always been a good friend." she told her, "As far as walking me to my locker he was just trying to be nice to me."

"Of course he was trying to be nice to you because he likes you." Maria teased her.

"Even if he does I am sure all this stuff going on will be enough to scare him off." she told her then said, "You know Max has always been on the quiet shy side he isn't about to want to be drawn into this with all the attention it would bring." she said, "I mean look how the press has been hounding you."

"My mom got a call this morning from some wake up Roswell morning show." she told her, "They want me to come give an interview. I of course refused and my mother lectured them until they hung up on her."

Liz smiled, "I so love your mom." she said.

"Come on we agreed no secrets." Alex reminded them, "At least not any when I am sitting right at the table with you guys."

Maria smiled, "I was just telling Liz how vitally important it is that we take you shopping very soon." she teased him, "Alex that shirt is the worst."

Alex looked down at his shirt and laughed, "The day I let you two dress me is the day I lose all dignity."

Liz laughed, "Yeah, but Alex thing of what you could gain with our help." she teased him.

Michael looked back over at Liz and her friends, "See shes bouncing back already." he told them as he watched Liz and Maria continue to tease Alex. After he finished eating he grabbed his stuff and leaned over to Max, "Stay away from her Maxwell we can not afford to get involved with humans." he reminded him.

Liz finished eating her carrots and tried to keep herself from looking over toward Max again even though she wanted to. She couldn't fully explain it, but there was this pull toward him and each day that went by it seemed to be getting stronger. She lowered her eyes and then slowly turned her head in his direction, he was looking over at her. There eyes met for just a moment when she turned back around. She felt her cheeks flush a bright red, she took in a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart. She turned her attention back to Maria and Alex. "So my dad has decided to finally remodel the Crashdown while its closed." she told them, "I don't have to work for a few days, I guess that is a plus."

Alex shook his head, "What are your plans to occupy your time while this is happening?" he asked her.

Liz shook her head, "I have no idea, my mom and dad think maybe I should think about going and staying with my aunt for a while to get away." she told them.

Maria looked at her, "Are you considering doing that?" she asked her.

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know at this point. If I did go my parents at least could get make to normal and reopen the Crashdown." she told them as lunch break came to an end.

"Well don't take off any where without letting us know a head of time." Alex told her as he got up and cleared away his trash.

Liz smiled, "I won't, I promise." she told them as she gathered up her things and headed back to her locker. She only had two more classes to make it through and then this day would be over. She walked down the hall and ran into Kyle. She wasn't sure what to expect from him, but was really touched when he pulled a single yellow rose from behind his back and gave it to her. "this is for you." he told her.

"Oh Kyle that is so sweet." she said taking the rose, "thank you."

"So how are you doing?" he asked her. "My dad told me about what happened. I tried to call, but I got your voice mail."

"yeah with all the reporters calling asking questions my dad just had me turn the phone off for a while. I'm sorry I forget to check the messages or I would have called you back." she told him.

"It's all good, really I just wanted to make sure you were ok." he told her.

"I am fine really." she told him. "Things have been crazy but I am hanging in there."

Kyle glance up and saw Max as he came around the corner, "So Liz can I ask you something?"

Liz nodded her head, "Sure." she agreed hoping it wouldn't be more questions about how she was healed.

"You and Max Evans, you guys are friends right?" he asked her as he looked over toward Max.

Liz nodded her head, "Yeah I think so we have three classes together and we are lab partners." she told him.

"But you guys you aren't like dating or anything right..I mean of course you can date him if you want to but." he stumbled around looking for the words to say then came straight to the point. "He isn't the reason that you ended things with me is he?"

Liz shook her head, "No of course not Kyle why would you think that? Why would you ask me that?" she wanted to know.

Kyle shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, it's just that my dad was asking me all these questions about the two of you and I guess I got a little jealous."

Liz was surprised, "Your dad was asking about me and Max?" Why?" she asked him.

"Who knows, the man makes me crazy most days." Kyle told her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "Kyle I didn't mean to hurt you when we broke up, I hope you know that." she told him again.

Kyle shook his head and smiled, "No Liz I am good, you were right we do make better friends, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I think all his questions just got me wondering that's all. Forget I mentioned anything." he told her. "Besides I am now dating Katie Hanson."

Liz smiled, "I heard and I want you to know I am really happy for you. You have been a really great friend to me." she told him.

"I try." he teased her then said in a more serious tone, "If you want a place to come hang out or just a change of scenery you know you can call me." Kyle told her as he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I know Kyle, thank you." she smiled at him.

Max stood near his locker watching Liz and Kyle talking. He was glad that she still had someone, in all truth he wished that someone was him but knowing she wasn't alone at least made him feel a little better. Maybe in the end Michael and Isabel were right and she really would be just fine with out him. After all she had Maria, Alex, and Kyle to help her get through. He waited until they left and put his things away before heading to class.


	7. Chapter 7

Liz walked in and sat down in the last class of the day, social issue and diversity. This was her least favorite class because of the teacher, Miss. Bristol. Liz could not wait for this class to be over, she was tired of all the staring and rude comments. More than anything she just wanted this day to end so she could go home, soak in a hot bath tub and close out the world. She waited for the bell to ring and pulled out her note-book. She glanced over and saw Max sitting next to her. He smiled and she smiled back. She really hoped Miss Bristol would not make what happened to her a part of the class discussion for the day. She glanced at Max again, in some small way him being near by made her feel better. Liz turned and faced the front of the class as Miss Bristol began.

"Class I want to do something different today." she began. " Now that Liz is back with us I think we need to talk about what happened, we need to allow everyone a chance to express their feelings." she told them as she secretly flipped on recorder hidden inside her desk.

The look on Liz face said it all, she was horrified. How could this teacher even possibly think this was a good idea. She sunk down into her seat as Miss Bristol continued on.

"Liz since you're the one who went through this horrible life experience maybe you could start by telling us what happened and how it made you feel." the teacher asked her. "What was it like for you when you first got shot?"

She shook her head, "I don't really want to talk about this so maybe we could just move on to another topic." Liz suggested.

"Liz you might be surprised to find if you talk about this you will actually feel better." the teacher told her. "Please no one here is going to judge you. Just tell us what you went through."

Liz could feel everyone's eyes on her, she didn't say anything. "Alright Liz if its to hard for you maybe someone else might like to share first." she said as she turned to the class. "Don't be shy, this is your chance to just express how you are feeling. Let Liz know we are all here for her and just let out your emotions."

Sherry Williams raised her hand. Miss Bristol nodded her head and Sherry turned and looked at Liz, "I don't want to be mean or anything but I just think its kind of raunchy that Liz is getting all this special treatment, with the media guys talking about her just because she got shot. Its like she wants to capitalize on what happened. It seems like she is just trying to get everyone to pay attention to her. I think that's why she won't talk about what happened. She just thinks that if she is this big mystery then everyone will pay attention to her."

Liz shook her head in frustration, "that is so not true."

Miss Bristol turned to Liz, "Liz this isn't a personal attack on you Sherry is just expressing what she is feeling." she told her then turned to sherry, "Now Sherry lets remember to talk about our own feelings and not project anything on to others ok dear."

Leslie Smith raised her hand next and spoke up next, "I worry about dying all the time and I just kind of wish Liz would be more open about telling us what it was like. It would really make me feel a lot better to know what its like. I think she is being selfish not to give us details."

Liz could feel herself getting more angry by the minute. She took in a deep breath and tried to keep calm. Miss Bristol was nodding her head, "Ok Leslie that was very good, Liz what do you want to say to Leslie?"

Liz shook her head, "Nothing, I don't have anything to say."

Miss Bristol looked annoyed, "Liz I think this could be really helpful to you and Leslie, why don't you take a moment gather your thoughts and share with us what happened that night. You must remember something you could tell us."

Liz laughed, "Seriously this is so not happening" she told the teacher, "I have nothing to say to any of you. Leslie I am sorry that you struggle with what ever it is your going through, but I have nothing to tell you that would make you feel any better." she told her then she turned to Sherry, "And as far as me trying to capitalize on any of this attention, you can think what ever you want, nothing I say is going to change your mind any way."

Miss Bristol took in a deep breath, "Liz we just want to be able to share and help one another that's all. What happened to you, it affects each one of us and talking about it helps."

Liz shook her head as she got to her feet, grabbed her books and walked toward the door, "No Miss Bristol it does not effect each one of us, it affects me and only me. I am the one living under the microscope with everybody watching and honestly this whole little classroom experiment has been nothing more than an invasion of my privacy and guess what I don't have to stay here and deal with it any longer." she said as she left the room.

Miss Bristol called out after her to return to class, "Liz you can't just walk out of class like that."

she called out then turned back to the class and let out a small sigh, "Perhaps Liz just needs some time before she is ready to consider how others might be feeling in all of this. I suspect she may be being so secretive because deep down she has not really consider what others might be going through."

Max couldn't believe what she had just said, "I can not believe how rude you all are. Most of you have been doing nothing, but talking behind her back all day or even worse calling her names right to her face. You want to know how she is feeling...try having your entire life flipped upside down and then you might have a clue." he said as he got up and walked out after Liz.

Miss Bristol took in a deep breath, "Mr. Evans come back and take your seat or you will be truant."

Max didn't stop he didn't care, all he could think about was making sure Liz was alright.

Liz was so angry she couldn't think straight. She wiped away the tears from her eyes as she began walking toward the school parking lot. She would have to sit in the car and wait for Maria until school was over, but she didn't care she was not going back to listen to any more of that. She got half way to the parking lot when she heard someone calling out to her.

"Liz wait..." Max called out after her.

Liz stopped and turned around, "What is it?" she asked sounding more annoyed than she meant to.

Max knew she was angry, he could feel frustration as it built up inside of her. He smiled, "I just thought you might like some company." he offered her.

Liz wiped her eyes again and let go of some of her anger, "I'm sorry I did not mean to sound so angry just then."

Max just shrugged his shoulders, "Its fine, sometimes you just need to vent." he told her. He reached in and pulled out his keys from his pocket, "I can give you a ride home if you want."

Liz shook her head, "No." she told him then said, "I have to wait for Maria, she is giving me a ride home." she told him.

Max laughed, "Just send her a text and tell her that you left early." he suggested. "Unless you were considering going back into class."

Liz shook her head, "No. I am so done with that class. I only took it because I thought it would look good on my college applications."

Max laughed, "Same here."

Liz looked around, "I don't want you to get into trouble for leaving class because of me." she told him.

"Its fine, I am going to drop that class anyway." he told her.

"Well if you want to hang out for a while, would you mind if we just walked instead?" she asked. "I have been kind of hiding out from the press and I just really would love being out doors for a while and I could use some company."

Max understood, "Yeah sure." he told her, "I guess things have been crazy ugh?"

"Yeah you could say that." she said as she pulled. "It's just hard because I want to get back to normal and everyone around me except for a few people want to make this huge thing out of this." She told him as they walked toward the Crashdown.

"I can imagine that its been hard having your routine disrupted." he said feeling bad for her.

Liz didn't want to him to think she was ungrateful for what had happened, "I don't mean to sound like some kind of pathetic loser who feels like she is getting picked on." she told him, "It's just that everyone wants to know what it was like to be dead or dying. Like that was all that it was about." she tried to explain, "I don't want to focus on that part of it, you know. I mean if it upsets everyone else to think about dying why wouldn't it make me upset knowing how close I came to it actually happening." She told him as they walked through the park past the flower gardens, "I would rather think about living. For me it's about a day like today, I am still here, I'm breathing...and walking...and talking. I'm alive and that's really amazing to me. I know it sounds silly, but just feeling the sunshine and smelling the flowers, I have such an appreciation for that kind of stuff now." she blushed bright red when she looked over and realized he was staring at her. "I know that probably sounded really cliche."

Max shook his head, "No not at all, I understand I really do." he told her thinking about how he felt when he and Isabel came out of the pods for the first time. The whole world around him was like this huge adventurous place just waiting to be explored. Everything was new, every site, every sound was a new experience to him.

Liz smiled as she thought about it, "Well maybe what everyone always says is true, maybe life can get to busy sometimes, maybe it is good to slow down and smell the roses."

Max wondered if she felt like her life was sometimes to busy, "Is that how you felt...I mean before, did you feel like your life was "to busy?" he asked her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "Umm yeah, I mean I guess I didn't think so at the time, but between school, work, dating Kyle, and trying to keep up with Maria, there were times when I felt like things were just always moving so fast. Times when I just kind of wanted to take a step back and just spend time, it's the one thing we don't ever get back you know..." she told him. She looked over at him again and found him staring at her intently. She blushed, "That probably sounded so cheesy I think I'm just going to shut up now." she told him.

Max shook his head, "No seriously I have felt the same way lots of times." he told her then teased, "Well except for the dating Kyle part."

Liz laughed, "Well at least that is one area of my life that is a lot less complicated right now." she told him.

"Really how so?" he asked trying not to seem to overly curious.

"I broke up with him a little over a week ago, so that makes things considerable less complicated." she told him.

"Oh I thought you two were still together I saw you at school earlier." he said.

Liz smiled, "Kyle was just being a friend and letting me know that he is there for support if I need it." she told him. "We are still good friends, but I think we both realized that as far as dating went we just weren't a good fit for each other. He is dating Katie Hanson now and I think they are great together."

"Yeah I guess that fits, head cheerleader dating star quarter back." Max said.

Liz looked down the alley behind the Crashdown, there were no reporters in site. She made sure she had her hoodie up and kept her head down. "Maybe they found a new story to chase after." she told him as they walked over to the door to the restaurant. "Do you want to come in and have a soda?" she asked him.

He glanced down at his watch, "sure." he said as Liz opened the door.

She flipped on the light switch, the restaurant was dark, the front shades were all still drawn. Max took a look around, "I don't think I have ever seen this place so quiet at this time of day." he told her as he sat down at the counter.

Liz got them both a cherry coke and grabbed a bottle of Tabasco sauce for Max. "It makes me feel bad for my dad, normally this is when he makes the most money because of the convention, but since the media has been around he can't really open right now."

Liz handed him the bottle of Tabasco sauce for his drink, "I know you like to add this to everything."

Max laughed, "I know it must seem odd to eat Tabasco on everything, but ever since I can remember I just really like it."

"I have my own really goofy eating addictions." Liz told him.

"Really, like what?" he asked her as he sipped his soda.

Liz laughed, "No I can't tell you its to weird."

Max laughed, "Stranger then eating Tabasco sauce on everything. Come on tell me." he pleaded with her.

Liz shook her head, "Alright I like to eat mustard on my eggs, and not just any mustard, but really spicy brown mustard."

Max smiled, "that's not so strange."

"No you don't think so, I also like to eat vinegar on fries especially sweet potato fries." she told him.

Max made a face, "now that is kind of weird." he told her.

"Lizzy are you home?" her dad called out.

"Yes dad we are in the restaurant." Liz called back.

Max stiffened a little as her dad came through the door from the kitchen, "The school called and said you left your class and that you were upset." he said. "What happened exactly at school?"

Liz looked at Max, "Well Miss Bristol decided to make my life the days topic of discussion and when I told her I was uncomfortable with that she decided that it would be a great idea to let the rest of the class tell me how they were feeling about me getting shot."

Jeff shook his head, "I was worried it might be to soon for you to be going back."

Liz shook her head, "Its fine dad, I ended up walking out and Max was kind enough to do the same as a show of friendship." She smiled at him then said, "Oh Max this is my dad."

Jeff reached out his hand and shook Max's, "Well thank you very much for making sure Liz was alright and that she got home safely. Things have been crazy with these reporters around day and night."

Max shook his head, "I didn't mind bringing Liz home sir, Miss Bristol can be a very emotional person and expects everyone to see the world through her eyes. It can be a bit frustrating at times." he told them.

"Frustrating is a very good word to describe her class." Liz laughed.

Jeff took in a deep breath, "Well you two look hungry how about I throw some burgers on the grill." he offered.

Liz looked at Max, "How about it would you like an interplanetary burger with some orbit rings?" she asked him.

Max shook his head, "Sure that sounds great." he told them.

Liz smiled, "Dad that will be two burgers with onion rings."

Jeff smiled, "Coming right up." he told them as he headed back toward the kitchen.

Liz leaned over and whispered, "thank you for letting him make you some lunch, I think he has kind of been missing being behind the grill." she told him.

Max smiled, "Well I'm not one to ever turn down one of your dads awesome burgers." he told her.

She looked at him and smiled, "This is nice, spending time just hanging out." she commented.

He shook his head, "Yeah, its real nice." he agreed.

Isabel took out her cell phone and read over the text Max sent to her, "Walked home with Liz, will explain later." was all it said. So much for keeping his distance. She picked up her books and headed toward her locker. Just when she was about to leave Michael came up behind her, "So I thought I saw Maxwell walking off campus with Liz Parker." he told her.

Isabel sighed, "Yes Michael, you did." she told him.

"So what was that all about this morning then, about staying away from her and not getting involved." he asked her.

"You know Max he has a will of his own" she told him, "Much like you."

"What is that suppose to mean?" he snapped at her.

"Just that you say you won't do anything rash and then you run off and talk to Maria, he says he will stay away from Liz and then he is walking her home. The two of you really have no self-control." she told him as they walked out of school and toward the jeep.

"Listen I am just trying to make sure we aren't about to be picked up by the guys in black suits and hauled off to the white rooms." he told her.

"I realize that." she told him. "But Max said that my dad didn't know anything more than what the news is reporting. Liz is telling everyone she really doesn't remember anything." she tried to calm him down.

"Just because she didn't say anything to her parents or your dad doesn't mean she isn't going to. I just need to know where I stand, unlike you and Max I don't have a hot-shot lawyer dad who can shield me from the powers that be." he told her.

"Don't be ridiculous Michael if it ever gets out that we are, who we are, no one will be able to protect us from the powers that be." she told him then said, "Look I understand why your upset, believe me I don't like this situation any more than you do, but we have to be careful and not get so freaked out that we end up giving ourselves away."

Michael nodded, "Alright fine, if you both want to play wait and see we can do that." he told her as he watched her get into the jeep.

Isabel turned back toward him, "Aren't you coming?" she asked him, "I am going to drive toward the Crashdown and pick up Max see if anything new has developed. I thought you would want to come."

Michael shook his head, "No I have other plans." he told her as he turned and walked back over toward Maria who was just heading out to her car.

Isabel got sight of where he was heading, "Of course you ignored every word I said and now are just going to go throw more fuel on the fire by talking to Maria Deluca." she mumbled to herself and shook her head in frustration.

Michael walked up to Maria and called out to her, "Maria you got a minute?" he asked her.

Maria stopped and turned toward him, "Oh hey Michael. Yeah I have all the time in the world thanks to the Crashdown being closed." she told him. She decided to see what kind of information she could get from him. "So how are things going?"

"Good." he told her then asked, "How are things with Liz?"

"She is doing good, life has been a little crazy, but she is managing." she told him.

"Yeah I saw the way some of the jocks were treating her at lunch." he told her.

"Yeah well I guess its things like this that let you know who your true friends are." she told him then said, "For example Max..." she said waiting to see his reaction.

"What about him?" he asked trying not to seem overly interested.

"Max has been a really great friend to Liz." she told him again waiting to see what he would say.

"Really I hadn't noticed." he told her. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah apparently just today Miss Bristol made this big huge thing out of what happened to her and totally embarrassed her in class and Max stuck up for her." she told him. "Liz sent me a text and told me that he even left class and walked her home. I would say that is a pretty cool way to show someone your their friend."

Michael shook his head, "Yeah well Maxwell does care that's for sure." he mumbled softly.

Maria shook her head, "Sorry I didn't really hear that." she told him.

Michael took in a deep breath, "Its nothing I was just saying Max does care about Liz, and your right its cool that he had her back like that..." he told her then said, "Who knows someday maybe she can return the favor."

Maria smiled, "Yeah and she would too." she told him, "Liz is an amazing friend, she would do just about anything for her true friends."

"Loyalty it a vital part of friendship." he told her.

"I agree completely." she smiled.

Michael looked around the parking lot was almost empty now, "Well I guess I will let you get going." he told her.

Maria waved her hand, "Come on with me, I can give you a ride home."

"I'm good, I think I will just head over to Max's house I need to talk to him about a few things." he told her.

Maria smiled, "So I can give you a ride over there." she offered.

Michael wasn't use to being around others much especially someone like Maria. "No really I'm good."

Maria walked over and opened her car door. "Come on Michael, you want to go see Max and I have to drive right past that way to go to the Crashdown anyway. What possible reason could you have not to let me give you a ride" she told him.

Michael shrugged his shoulders, "I guess none." he told her as he got into the passenger seat.

Maria laughed as she buckled in, "You could have said my driving skills are scary and I probably would have understood." she teased him as she put the car into drive and speed off.

Max helped Liz clear away their dishes after they finished their burgers. "That was really good." he told her dad.

"Well I am glad you liked it." Jeff told them as the phone began ringing.

"You can get that dad, Max and I will finish cleaning up." Liz told him.

Jeff smiled, "It was nice meeting you Max." he said as he went upstairs to take his call.

"Your dad seems like a really nice guy." Max told Liz.

Liz smiled, "I think so." she told him as they loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.

"So you going to be at school tomorrow?" he asked her.

Liz thought about it for a moment, "honestly right now I don't know. I know I said before to my dad that I could handle it, but it was really hard having all those kids stare at me and treat me like I am some kind of freak." she told him. "My dad mentioned maybe having me go stay with my aunt down in Florida for a while, I didn't want to, but after today I'm not so sure."

Max looked into her eyes and took her hand in his, "Come to school and don't worry about what other kids have to say. I will be there with you."

Liz felt a surge of energy pulse through her body as Max held her hand. "Thank you so much Max." she found herself saying.

He smiled at her, "For what?"

"For today." she whispered softly then leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You are the one person who hasn't asked me what happened or what it felt like. You've just been a friend."

Max took in a deep breath, he could feel what she was feeling and he realized he needed to pull back and put some distance between them before he said more than he meant to. In that moment he had the strongest desire to tell her everything, to tell her who he was and what really happened to her in the hospital. "I need to go. I will see you tomorrow." he said as he turned to go.

Liz let him out the back of the restaurant then headed upstairs. She was feeling really tired all the sudden and decided to lay down until Maria showed up. It had been a really long day, some of it good and some of it not so good.

As Max was walking down the street he noticed the reporters were filling back in. Two noticed him coming out of the Crashdown and tried to stop him, "So do you know the Parker family can we ask you some questions?"

Max shook his head, "I don't talk to the press." he told them as he kept walking.

With cameras clicking he heard another one ask, "Are you the boyfriend?" he asked. "Where you there when your girlfriend got shot?" The reporter asked then said, "Come on if you don't talk with us will just run with what we know." he threatened him.

Max stopped and looked at him, "And what is it you think you know?" he demanded.

"We know that Liz cut out of her last period class upset and that you followed after her. So are you the boyfriend, Max Evans?" he asked him, "Is that why you left class with Liz this afternoons? Do you have a comment about what happened in school today, our sources said Liz was near tears when she left and that you accused the teaching of bullying your girlfriend. Is that true?"

Max ignored them and kept walking toward the jeep, Isabel had just pulled up. "So you just couldn't stay away." she said as she waited for him to get in.

Max took in a deep breath, "Honestly I couldn't. I know it sounds really crazy, but this connection, this link I have with her now it gets so strong at time that unless I just hear her voice or see her I feel like I am going to go nuts."

Isabel let out a small sigh, "Max you have healed Michael and I with out that kind of connection ever happening. Do you think its different this time because Liz was so close to..." she started to say, but didn't finish.

"I am not sure." he told her. "Maybe its me, maybe the link is still there because..."

Isabel finished his sentence for him, "Because you want it to be there still."

"Is it that obvious to everyone?" He asked her.

"Well not to everyone, but I am your sister and I know you care about her." Isabel told him. She took in a deep breath, "Just be careful Max, none of us really knows how she would react if she knows the whole truth."

Max thought about it for a minute and shook his head, "I will." he told her.

Isabel pulled up into the driveway just as Maria pulled up to drop off Michael. "Is that Maria Deluca dropping Michael off?" Max asked her as they got out of the car.

Isabel looked over as she picked up her book bag, "It would appear to be, yes." she told him.

"What is he doing with her?" Max asked.

"Guess you will have to ask him that question." she told him as they waited for Michael to get out of the car. "But when you do, remember I just picked you up from Liz Parker's place?"

Max nodded, "Point taken."

Maria pulled the car up in front of the house, "So we are here and you arrived safely in one piece." she teased him.

"Yeah well you are a pretty awful driver." he told her.

"I have been told that before and yet the state of New Mexico allows me access to the roads." she laughed. She looked over and saw Isabel and Max standing near the jeep, "I guess you were expected." she told him.

Michael looked over toward them, "Yeah." was all he said.

"The three of you are close ugh?" she said without thinking. "Kind of like Alex, Liz and I."

Michael shrugged his shoulders, "I should go, don't want to keep you from whatever." he told her.

Maria looked over at Max and then said, "Do me a favor tell Max I said thank you." she told him hoping it might stir things up just a little.

"What for?" he asked her.

Maria could tell that Michael was touchy about her saying that to him, "For today, remember I told you what great friend he was to her." she reminded him. "Friends look out for each other and he proved he is Liz's friend."

Michael shook his head, "Yeah right." he said as he got out of the car and waited as she drove away. He shook his head, it had been his plan to try to get information out of her, but in the end he was pretty sure she was the one playing him.

"Michael you coming?" Max called out to him.

"Yeah." he said as they all went into the house.

Isabel put her stuff down and went into the kitchen for something to drink. Max and Michael followed her inside, "So what did you to boys learn today?" she asked them both.

Max shook his head, "If Liz remembers anything she is not talking about it." he told them. "She had a really bad day, last period was brutal, but we talked for a while and she didn't say anything to me that indicates she knows it was me. We had plenty of time alone she could have said something at any time but she didn't."

Micheal shrugged his shoulders, "Honestly Maria is really hard to read, I couldn't tell you if she knows anything or if Liz has said anything by what she said." he told them as he poured himself a soda. "The only thing I know for sure was that you sticking up for Liz one points with the both of them. Apparently Liz text Maria and told her all about what happened in class."

Isabel sipped her soda, "Maybe that's good, if she sees Max as a friend she might be more willing to help us if she does every remember what happened."

Max took in a deep breath, "Liz doesn't owe me anything I did what I did because I hated seeing her so upset. No one should have to go through that kind of humiliation." he told them, "What Miss Bristol did was way over the line."

Isabel sighed, "Max I didn't mean it like that." she told him, "Its just that the more Liz does get to know you maybe that's better because she will see that you do care about her. She will see that we're not the bad guys and you know she won't tell the sheriff or anyone else about what really happened." she told him.

"So what now you want me to spend time with her?" he asked them both.

Michael took in a deep breath, "Well you're doing a pretty lousy job of staying away from her so maybe Isabel is right. You know you care about her, you want to be with her so maybe we use getting close to her to our advantage." he suggested.

Max didn't like the way that sounded, "I'm not going to use Liz or try to gain her trust just so I can keep her quiet." he told him.

"I'm not saying use her, I am saying since you like her just go for it." he clarified, "If Liz knows you healed her, and she knows you were willing to risk everything to heal her she is more likely not to go running to the sheriff." he told him. "I am just saying that maybe spending time with her and letting her get to know the real you is not such a bad idea after all."

Max took in a deep breath, "I don't know."

Micheal shook his head, "Think of it this way Maxwell at least by spending time with her you will have plenty of opportunity to find out what she really does remember. It might just help buy us some time if we should need to leave Roswell in a hurry at some point."


	8. Chapter 8

Liz sat down on her bed and pulled out her journal. Since everything happened it seemed to really help her process her thoughts. She began writing,

My first day back to school was such a disaster. I never realized how purposefully cold some people could be. Besides Alex, Maria and a few others most people at Roswell High made it their mission to make me feel like a freak. It was so frustrating. I really felt like an outcast for the first time in my life and it hurt. These are people I have gone to school with my whole life, people who I thought were my friends.

At least there were two bright spots in the day, Kyle was very sweet, he wanted to make sure I was alright and to let me know that even if we aren't dating anymore he still considered me a good friend. I like Kyle he is a nice guy I'm so glad I didn't lose his friendship because we didn't work out as a couple. The other bright spot really took me by surprise. I was feeling so terrible during last period because Miss Bristol decided it would be a good idea to have everyone tell me how they were feeling about what happened. Of course I get that people are going to have reactions to this whole thing but to treat me like I am an outsider, like I am some kind of freak just because I didn't happen to die is kind of twisted. Anyway (deep breath) I walked out, I listened as long as I could then I just left and I am so not sorry that I did it. In a strange way it felt really good to stand up for myself but that wasn't what was truly amazing, what was truly and completely wonderful was having Max Evans follow me out of class and we just walked back to the Crashdown together. He really helped me feel better just by being there and listening. He didn't make me feel awkward for the things I shared and in some weird way I think he actually understood what I was trying to say. I don't want to sound vain but right now it feels like I am under a microscope and everyone is watching me, watching to see what I will do or say, everyone except for Max. He is the only one who treats me like I am still me. In an unexplainable way more than anyone else Max Evans helps me feel normal. If only I could tell him how much his being there meant to me today, how much his friendship has meant to me but then when it quiet and no one is around and it's just me and my thoughts, I feel him there and I kind of think maybe he knows...

Liz closed her journal and laid down on her bed. She was feeling really tired, it had been a really long day. She thought about how sweet it was of Max to come to her rescue like he did. Walking out of class and then hanging out with her really did make her feel better. She took in a deep breath and wrapped her blankets up closer around her chin. Thinking of Max made her feel safe in a way she couldn't really explain.

Isabel laid down on her bed and opened her yearbook, she decided it was time to take matters into her own hands. She thumbed through the pages until she came to Liz's picture. "Alright time to find out what you know." she laid back and focused all her energy on Liz. Moments later she found herself entering into Liz's dream. The lights were low and there was a hazy kind of fog all around the room. At first she thought she was in Liz's bedroom, but the scene changed to the restaurant. Liz was waiting tables and talking to the different customers. Isabel looked around the room, Max and Michael were in her dream. They were sitting in their usual booth. Isabel walked over and sat down just behind them so she could get a better view of what was happening. She watched as Liz came up to them,

"Hey Max...what can I get you." she asked him, smiling from ear to ear.

"Well how about an out of this world onion burger with a side of onion rings?" he told her.

Liz leaned over and whispered seductively, "Are you sure you really want that?" she teased him.

Max smiled, "Is there some reason you can think of that I shouldn't get that?" he flirted with her.

Liz leaned in even closer, "Well I did happen to hear that you have a hot date with a local waitress later and all those onions may not be such a good idea..." she told him playfully.

Max reached up wrapping his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, "So you think this gorgeous waitress might not like it if I eat all those onions ugh?" he whispered as he brushed her hair gently away from her face.

Isabel tried to keep from laughing, the sight of her brother being so out going and such a flirt was funny to her. She never imagined Max to act like that, truth was she never really thought any of them would ever be able to find someone to care about them like that. She watched as Liz leaned over and kissed Max and then breathlessly told him, "I think for you, she would make an exception."

Isabel had seen enough, she decided that maybe it was time to interact with Liz and see what she could remember. "Hey Liz." she said as she sat down next to Michael.

Liz seemed surprised at first to see her there, but smiled, "Oh hey Isabel how are you?" she asked her.

As Isabel began talking the dream shifted around the two of them, "I was just wondering if we could talk?" she asked her.

Liz sat down across from her, Max and Michael faded away as she nodded her head, "Yeah of course."

Isabel smiled, "I just wondered how you were doing? If you are ok?" she said softly.

"Yeah I am fine." she told her feeling a little uneasy.

Isabel took in a deep breath, "When Max and I first came here things were kind of difficult, some of the kids were pretty hard on us." she told her then said, "So in some ways I think I understand what you might be going through."

"I remember you and Max getting teased a lot." she said.

"Yeah some of the things said really hurt, Max was especially upset by some of the unkind things said about us." she told her. "But you were different you were nice to us both."

Liz didn't say anything at first, "I wanted to protect him then." she admitted. "He looked so lost, I wanted to make him feel safe."

Isabel smiled, "I know. He wants to make you feel safe now." she told her then said, "If you ever need to talk about what happened..." she offered trying to stir the conversation that direction.

Suddenly the room shifted around them again and Liz was standing over by the soda machine, she began feeling really uneasy and her heart was racing. The restaurant was suddenly filled with people but they all seemed like ghost frozen in time. She looked back over and saw Isabel sitting in the booth, "Whats happening?" she called out to Isabel.

Isabel walked over to her, "Its ok Liz, this is your dream. I'm not really here your just having a dream. Your mind is just trying to piece together what happened to you that night. Your using things you know to help you remember" she assured her. "Don't be afraid, look Max is here with you."

Max suddenly reappeared. "I'm here with you Liz." He said as she turned toward him. He was now standing next to her holding her hand. Isabel felt herself fade away as Liz focus turned to Max. Isabel sat back and watched as Liz tried to remember what happened.

"You were there with me when it happened. I remember seeing you right after. Yours was the last face I saw." she said as tears filled her eyes. Max pulled her into his arms and held her close. She closed her eyes and whispered, "It was so cold, and so dark." Liz turned away from him as he let her go. "It hurt so much..." suddenly Isabel felt intense fear as she watched Liz look down at her chest, she had just been shot. She placed her hand over her chest and then pulled it away, it was covered in blood. She fell backwards as waves of intense pain washed over her. Isabel's heart began racing as she watched Liz laying there on the cold, hard, floor struggling to stay alive. She watched as Max ran over to Liz and tried to heal her. "Liz stay with me." Max whispered softly. Liz struggled as her eyes fluttered open briefly and then she lost consciousness. Isabel could feel the fear and darkness as it enveloped Liz lifeless body.

Just as suddenly the dream changed again. Isabel couldn't make out where she was. She walked down a very long dark corridor. She tried to focus, but the darkness was so thick and heavy. The emotions that Liz was feeling began to overwhelm her. Isabel strained to see through the darkness, then she saw Liz in front of her, dressed in a hospital gown, she was cold, frightened and alone, "Please help me." she cried out softly as tears streamed down her face, "Please, I'm so afraid. It's so cold. Can you hear me, can anyone hear me... please?" Liz voice was filled with panic and desperation as she cried out again.

Isabel stood there helplessly watching her as she grew weaker. Suddenly Liz heard another voice, someone was reaching out to her, she called out. "Max?" she mumbled her voice growing weaker. "Max is that you?" she cried. "Please don't leave me...please Max. I'm so afraid."

Isabel eyes filled with tears, she realized what she was seeing, this was the deepest part of Liz's mind, these were her memories buried deep within her consciousness of the time when she lay dying at the hospital. She could see the fear in her eyes as the darkness was closing in around her. Liz suddenly stopped walking, for a brief moment there was hope in her eyes as she called out, "Max...you came." she whispered softly.

Isabel watched as Max walked toward her holding out his hand, ""Liz, I'm here." he told her. Liz took his hand and held it tight, then he pulled her into his arms holding her tight, he whispered softly, "Liz I need you please don't leave me..."

"Max...you came, you heard me." she mumbled softly as the two of them were surrounded by the soft white glow of pure energy. Isabel knew he was healing her in that moment.

Isabel stood there watching her brother as he healed the only girl he ever loved. "I love you Liz." she heard him whisper softly. She wiped her eyes and stepped back from the dream. As she woke herself up she realized that some where deep down Liz knew that Max healed her, but whether she would ever remember it she couldn't be sure.

Liz sat up in her bed, she was drenched in sweat, her heart pounding and she was terrified. She called out into the darkness of her room. It took her several minutes to calm herself and for her to realize it had only been a vivid dream. She got up out of bed and walked over to get a drink of water from her bathroom sink. Her hands were shaking as the vague visions from the dream washed over her, she couldn't seem to shake the fear that she felt. She was cold and she felt so very alone. She walked back out to her room and sat down on her bed, the room seemed so dark she couldn't hold back the flood of emotions any longer. She began crying as all the pain, fear, and emotion that she had been carrying over the last week just began pouring out as she came to grips with the reality of almost dying and losing everyone dear to her. She knew it had only been a dream but still it felt so real. She tried to remember but most of the dream was already a blur to her. The one person she did remember was Max, but was it all just a dream or was it real?

"Lizzy?" she heard her dad call out her name as he came into her room. Jeff saw his daughter sitting on the edge of her bed crumbled in a heap crying. He rushed over to her and sat down beside her.

Liz turned to her dad, she didn't know what to say in that moment she just continued crying uncontrollably. Her dad wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He whispered softly in her ear as he cradled her in his arms, "Its going to be ok, you just let it out sweet heart. I'm here." he told her.

Liz woke up and looked at her clock, it was already past 7:00 when she heard Maria coming up the stairs. She sat up just as she was coming through her bedroom door, "I heard you're not feeling so good?" Maria said as she walked over and sat down on the bed.

It was a difficult night. I had a really bad dream." She told her.

Maria smiled and gave her friend a hug, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Liz took in a deep breath, "It started out fine. I was dreaming about Max and it was just this kind of fun flirty dream that meant nothing, but then it changed, it was more like memories then a dream. This time I remembered more of what happened and it wasn't as vague or confusing. At least I think they were memories." she told her.

"Ok so tell me the details what do you remember." she asked her.

"I remember very clearly being shot and Max being the last person I saw. That part I am sure of he was there and he placed his hand over my chest. It was warm and for a few seconds the pain actually began to ease off. There was a connection between us and I could feel him with me and then just as suddenly it was all ripped away." Liz told her. "The pain came back and I lost consciousness."

"That could have been when Michael pulled him away from you right before the paramedics came rushing in." Maria told her. "What else do you remember?"

Liz shook her head, "Nothing, I think I woke up after that. I think the memory of coming so close to death just..." she told her then stopped for a moment. "I was just so upset when I woke up I just started shaking and crying, my dad sat up with me most of the night." she told her.

"He said you had a rough go of it. Did you tell him about any of this." Maria asked her.

Liz shook her head no, "No not really. After I calmed down we talked for a long while about life and letting go. He was so awesome Maria, we ended up watching the sun come up together" she laughed as fresh tears filled her eyes, "I don't know why I was so emotional but it all just hit me in that moment I realized how close I came to dying."

Maria wiped her eyes as tears rolled down her cheek, "Liz I am so sorry you had to go through all of that, to relive it like that must have been so horrible."

Liz took in a deep breath, "You know Maria at first it was, but as I was talking with my dad I just began to feel this overwhelming sense of peace. It was like I knew I was going to be ok. I actually think I feel stronger for talking to him about it." she told her.

"But you still don't remember who healed you are if someone was with you at the hospital." she asked.

"I remember being at the hospital and I know someone was there with me, but I don't remember anything past that." she said then added, "Maybe it is beginning to come back though."

"So what do you want to do today?" Maria asked her, "Are you up for school or do you want to skip and just go hang out?"

Liz took in a deep breath, "I so don't want to go to school today." she told her. "Lets just get in the car and drive, lets just see where we end up." she told her.

"I am up for that." she told her. "I think you better tell your dad though so he doesn't worry cause the school will probably call."

"I will tell him." she told her as she got up to get ready.

Max looked for Liz all morning, but noticed that both her and Maria were gone from school. He saw Alex and thought about asking if he knew where they were, but wasn't sure if he should. When lunch came he made his way to the quad and sat down with Isabel and Michael. "Liz and Maria are both gone from school today." Max told them.

"Yeah Maria has art class with me and she wasn't there." Michael told him.

"Do you think it means anything?" Isabel asked them. She still had not told Max or Michael about dream walking Liz. She didn't think it would be a big deal, but now that both of them were gone from school today she wondered if she made a huge mistake.

"I don't know." Michael told her, "Did you dad say anything to you this morning?"

Max shook his head, "Only that he was coming to the school today to have both Liz and I withdrawn from Miss Bristol's class because of what happened yesterday. He is coming along with Liz's mom I think is what he said."

Isabel nodded her head, "Yeah he said they were going to file a complaint about how things were handled in the class and the fact that Miss Bristol recorded and posted what was said in class to her facebook account was completely unethical for her as a teacher."

"Well maybe that is why Liz isn't here then, maybe they just thought it would be better if she wasn't here when they came." Michael suggested.

"That doesn't really explain Maria being gone." Max reminded him.

Isabel was just about to tell them what she did when Alex came walking out to the quad and walked over to sit down at the table he usually shared with Liz and Maria. "I have an idea, just wait here." she told them both as she got up and walked over to Alex.

"Hey Alex." Isabel said as she walked up and sat down next to him.

Alex turned and looked around before looking over at her, "Hello Isabel." he said completely confused as to why she was sitting there with him. "Can I do something for you?" he asked her.

"Well actually I was wondering where Maria is?" Isabel asked him then explained, "I have third period history with her, I was hoping I might be able to get a copy of the lecture notes from her for yesterday."

"She's not here today." he told her. "I think I have those notes though if you want to come by my locker later I can give them to you."

Isabel tried to think of what to say, "Oh you have Mr. Hicks too?" she asked.

"Yeah I have him 2nd period with Liz." he told her.

"Oh that's great." she said trying to think of what else to say, "So is Liz not here today either?" she asked. "Usually the three of you eat lunch together right?"

Alex nodded his head, "Yeah usually we do." he told her. "Kind of like you, Max, and Michael do." he told her.

"Oh yeah." she sat there for a few minutes, but couldn't think of what to say next. Usual guys were the ones trying to come up with stuff to say to keep her from leaving not the other way around. She took in a deep breath and decided to leave since he clearly wasn't going to tell her why Liz and Maria weren't at school anyway. "Well it was nice talking to you."

"Isabel..."he called her name before she got up, "Did you want those notes or was that just an excuse to ask about Liz and Maria?"

Isabel started to pretend that she need the notes, but stopped, "No I don't really need them." she told him truthfully, "I was just asking because I noticed that they weren't here today."

"Why the sudden interest in Maria and Liz, you never cared before?" he told her.

Isabel took in a deep breath, "My dad is Liz's lawyer and he suggested maybe I make an attempt to reach out to her. I don't know what she is going through, but I know a lot of people are talking about her and saying really awful things. I can relate to that a little bit." she told him.

"Because of when you first came to school some of the kids weren't so nice." he told her remembering those first days that the three of them came to Roswell.

"Yeah." she said as she got up to leave. She wasn't sure why, but she felt nervous around him suddenly.

"Liz is doing fine, I will let her know that you asked about her." Alex told her as he got to his feet.

"I'm glad, she has been through a lot and I can imagine its been hard." Isabel told him.

"Yeah it has been difficult. I think that is why her and Maria skipped out for a day of shopping and to hang out together." Alex told her. "I think she wanted to just forget about all this stuff that has been going on."

Isabel smiled, "That sounds really nice."

"Yeah it does doesn't it" he agreed with her. "Next time you want to ask something you don't have to lie about it. Just ask." he told her before walking away.

Isabel watched him walk away, she had to admit she was a little thrown by his attitude toward her. He was probably the first high school boy she had ever met that didn't seem to fall all over himself when she was around. She was also very aware of the fact that she couldn't manipulate him like she could so many other boys. She walked back over and sat down next to Max, "Liz and Maria skipped school. They are hanging out and just trying to forget about some of the stuff going on." she told them.

Michael shook his head in frustration, "So then we're good, they took the day to hang out. Sounds way better than being here." he told them.

"Maybe there really is nothing to worry about than." Max suggested.

Michael shook his head,"we still don't know where we stand in all of this Maxwell. We don't even know if Liz remembers what happened or not. I hardly think its time to relax."

"Yes we do know." Isabel told them then said, "At least I know what she remembers." she continued.

Max knew immediately what she had done, "Isabel you didn't dream walk her did you?"

"I did, last night." she admitted. "I had to know, the constant waiting and wondering does she remember will she say something was driving me crazy."

"Join the club." Michael told her.

Max was angry, "Isabel I warned you about that. It's not right, you can't just invade peoples dreams." he told her. "The last time you went into moms dream you freaked her out and she could barely sleep for the next week."

"Maxwell we need to know where we stand in all of this. It's about time we used the powers we have to our advantage." Michael told him then asked. "What did you find out."

Isabel took in a deep breath, "She doesn't remember everything yet." she told them.

"How do you know that?" Michael asked.

"Her dreams were just..." she thought about what to say, she didn't want to embarrass Liz or Max. "Lets just say they were normal dreams about certain people. She was dreaming about Max, but it wasn't anything unusual" she told them. "But with a little direction she does remember some things that happened. She knows that Max came over to her when she was first shot. I think deep down, buried in her mind she remembers a lot more. She knows someone was with her at the hospital, but she doesn't know who. At least she doesn't fully remember that it was Max."

Michael shook his head, "So it's just a matter of time before she remembers and then what?" he asked. "She will go running to her parents, to the cops, and every news agency that will listen."

Isabel shook her head, "No." she told them both, "Max even when she does fully remember she won't say anything, she won't tell anyone that you healed her."

Michael didn't believe her, "How can you be so sure?" he demanded.

"Because of what I saw." she told him then she looked over at Max. "She won't tell anyone you can trust her."

Michael looked over at Max, "You are the one with this connection with her, if and when she does remember what do you think can we trust her?" he asked him.

Max tried to focus on what Liz was feeling, but he couldn't decided, he knew right now she was happy, but beyond that he couldn't say. He took in a deep breath, "I think so." he told him.

Michael got to his feet, "Maybe you should talk to her." he suggested. "This waiting around game is ridiculous, maybe its time to lay the cards on the table and just tell her."

Max shook his head, "I don't know I don't want to make this whole situation worse for her."

"Think about it Maxwell." he told him before he left.

Isabel looked over at her younger brother, "Max I know how you feel about her...I know you can trust her." she told him.

Max took in a deep breath, "Isabel she feels safe with me right now, but what will she feel when she learns the truth about who."he paused for a moment then said, "About what I am."

"You will never know until you talk to her." Isabel told him, "You still have that connection with her, talk to her and decide what you can tell her or not?"

Maria pulled up outside the Indian Reservation store, "It has been forever since I have been here." she told her. "You want to go in and look around?"

Liz shook her head, "Yeah it could be fun." she told her as they got out and walked toward the store.

They both walked in and began looking around. There were beautiful hand-woven rugs, blankets and tapestries as well as beautiful jewelery. "The work that must go into this stuff is incredible." Liz told Maria.

Maria picked up a pair of ear rings, "These are really pretty and so unique. I wonder what they cost." she said as she took them over toward the lady behind the cash register. "Could you tell me the price on these?"

"That is not what you and your friend have coming looking for here today." she told Maria.

Liz walked over and joined Maria at the counter, "I don't think we understand." she said, "Are the ear rings not for sale?" she asked.

The lady cleared her throat then looked around to be sure no one else was in her store. She walked over and closed the door and flipped the door sign to closed. Liz watched as she came back over to them. She was an older woman with beautiful long hair that had gone completely gray with white streaks running through it. For her age she was very beautiful, with dark brown eyes. "You are Elizabeth Parker." she whispered as if she wanted to be sure no one could hear her.

Liz realized she must have seen her from the news, "Yes." she said as she took in a deep breath then asked, "My friend wants to buy these ear rings are they for sale."

The lady looked at Maria and smiled, "You have very good taste, they are expensive, but you may have them." she told her then she looked back at Liz. "I have something for you, something that I believe you have come for." she told her as she pulled out her keys and walked over to one of the large paintings hanging on the wall. "When I saw you on the news I knew you would come." she told Liz.

Liz shook her head, "Who are you?" she asked her.

"My name is Letitia and I have been waiting for you for a very long time." she told her as she removed the painting and used the keys in her hand to open a safe on the wall. "I have something for you." she told her again as she reached in a pulled out a box from inside the safe.

Liz looked at Maria, "I think you have me mistaken for someone else." she told her.

Letitia laughed, "No I knew you would come when I saw on the news." she told her, "Don't worry I was told you wouldn't remember very much." she told her as she brought the box back to the counter.

Liz eyes narrowed, "Who told you I wouldn't remember?" she asked.

"I can see you do not understand and are confused." she whispered, "I understand, it is better that you be cautious for now." she told her as she took out another key and unlocked the box. She opened it and pulled out a beautiful hand carved necklace to Liz. "He said one day you would come and I was to give this to you. He said I would know you because you are different." she told her.

Liz swallowed as she reached out and took the necklace. As soon as she touched it her mind was filled with images of a dark cave in the middle of the desert. She was walking with someone, they were coming out of some kind of chamber. She felt afraid and panicked all at once as she tried to give the necklace back. "I am sure you have made a mistake." she said as she grabbed Maria's arm and headed for the door.

"He came for you?" Letitia called out. "He brought you back because you are one of his, one of the children he took a vow to protect." she told her. "Do not be afraid, he told me this day would come and you would come here. He said you would not remember, but he left this for you, to help you find your way." she walked over to Liz and placed it in her hand. "He was a very good man, you can trust me." she told her as tears filled her eyes.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I don't know what you are talking about. I only came here with my friend to get away from all of the crazy things being said in the news." she told her.

Maria shook her head, "Who is this man you say told you that she would come?" she asked her, "Does he have a name?"

She smiled, "His name is Ayush, it is from the Cherokee language, it means long life." she explained. "You need time, I can see that. Come back tomorrow and I will tell you more." she told her as she walked over to the door. "Keep the necklace, it will help you remember, and you may keep the ear rings." she told them as they walked out of the store. "Come back tomorrow."

Liz and Maria made their way back to the car. Liz held the necklace up and ran her hand over the symbol on the front of the smooth metallic stone. As she did images filled her mind again, she saw them they were walking away from a cave, through the desert in the night. She saw everything around her as if it were through her own eyes and yet she knew it wasn't her. She closed her hand around it and held it tight, "This was his, it belonged to him." she whispered softly.

"Belonged to who?" Maria asked her.

"It belonged to him, the person who healed me at the hospital." she told her.

"How do you know that?" Maria asked her as she backed out and drove down the road back to the high way.

"Because I can still feel the connection with him and when I touched this I saw visions of him. I saw the things he was seeing or did" she told her.

Maria took in a deep breath, "Liz this is getting strange." she told her as she looked over at Liz. She gasped and slammed down on the brakes, "Liz this is getting really really strange!" she told her.

Liz flew forward as the car came to a screeching stop, "Maria what are you doing?!" she demanded as she looked around them to make sure there were no other cars on the highway.

Maria cleared her throat, "Liz look at your chest." she told her.

Liz looked down and she could see the hand print was glowing brighter than it had been before. "Oh my gosh." she reached into the back seat and pulled on her hoodie. "You don't think that lady saw that do you."

Maria shook her head, "No it only just started when you were holding on to that thing in your hand." she told her as she pulled the car over to the side of the road.

Liz took in a deep breath, "Maria what is happening?" she said as she looked down at the necklace. "What does this all mean?"

Maria took in a deep breath, "I don't know but the only way we are going to find out is by going back to see her tomorrow."

Max was sitting in his fifth period class when he suddenly had visions fill his mind. He saw images of when he and Isabel first came out of the pod chamber. He saw the two of them as they walked away from the cave and into the desert. He felt fear and panic wash over him, but it wasn't from him. It was from Liz. Something happened today that frightened her, he realized as he got up and asked to be excused to the nurse. He collected his backpack and was heading toward the school parking lot when he suddenly had another very strange flash. This time he saw the desert around him and Isabel as they were leaving the pod chamber. He took in a deep breath as he remembered there was an old water tower out where they were found. He got in his jeep and decided to go and see Liz.

Maria pulled back up to the Crashdown. "The hand print isn't glowing like it was before." she told her.

Liz looked relieved, "Maria I know I have to go back and see Letitia tomorrow. I have to know who Ayush is and if he was the one who healed me."

"We could go tomorrow after school." she suggested.

"Ok. What should I do with this?" she asked her.

"For now, until we know more about it just put it inside your pocket." Maria suggested as they walked into the Crashdown.

Liz was surprised to see Max there with her dad. "Look who came by to see how you are doing?" her dad told her.

Liz blushed a little. "Max hey, you didn't have to come over here?" she told him.

"I wanted to." He said as he pulled out some notes from biology, and gave them to her, "I took extra notes for you, so you wouldn't get behind." he told her.

Liz smiled, "Thank you so much."

"So you want me to order some pizza?" Jeff asked as he walked over to the phone.

Liz looked at Maria and Max, "Do you want pizza?" she asked them.

Max shook his head, "I can't stay." he told her, "I just wanted to give you the notes and see how you were."

Maria smiled, "Max when you are offered pizza the proper response is yes I would love some pizza." she teased him as she took out her phone and scanned through her messages.

He looked at Liz and shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I would love some pizza." he told her.

Liz smiled, "Dad we would love some pizza." she called out to him. "Lets go into the restaurant and sit down." she offered. Maria and Max went ahead of her, but Liz stopped just on the other side of the door when she thought she heard a familiar voice talking to her dad.

Jeff was just about to call and order the pizza when Sheriff Valanti came walking in to the back of the Crashdown. "Hello Jeff." he said as he came into the kitchen.

Liz heard the sheriff voice as he walked closer toward her dad. "Hello Sheriff what can I do for you?" Jeff asked as he put the phone back down on the receiver.

"I just wanted to let you know I am going to need to bring Liz in for some more questions." he told him.

"Why?" Jeff asked not even trying to hide the irritation in his voice.

"Some new information has come to light and I need to ask her about it." He told him.

"What kind of new information?" Jeff asked.

"Well if you want to have Liz come down we can talk about it together." he told him.

Jeff shook his head no, "No not now, she has friends over, I am not going to let it get spoiled by you interrogating her again." he told him.

"Fine then tomorrow morning you can bring her by my office." the sheriff told him. "I know this is hard for her, but I have to do my job."

"I will talk to my lawyer and we will be there." Jeff told him. "I understand that you are trying to do your job, but Liz is my top priority. You should know nothing has changed she does not remember anything more about what happened."

"Well sometimes it takes just the right people to ask the right questions to help us with our memories." he told him then said, "See you in the morning."

Liz took in a deep breath, and turned toward Max and Maria. She walked over and sat down. "So you guys want something to drink?" she asked.

Max could see she was upset, "Is everything alright?" he asked her.

Maria got up, "Liz I will get us some sodas you sit down." she said as went in the kitchen to get some glasses.

Liz smiled, "No its fine, just I overheard the sheriff just now say he was bringing me in for more questions tomorrow morning." she told him.

Max tried to make her feel better, "Don't worry about it." he told her, "I am sure its nothing." he tried to encourage her.

Liz shook her head, "I don't know Max, he almost seems obsessed with everything that happened." she told him. "I just wish he would except that I don't remember anything and leave me alone. If he was asking me about the shooting that would be fine, but its gone beyond that."

Max took in a deep breath as Maria came back over, "What is he asking you about?" he asked her.

Liz looked at Maria, "Just stuff about my health, if I am sick a lot or if I heal really quickly."

Max felt bad for her, "Have my dad talk to him. He can't do that, just because he is sheriff doesn't mean he gets to asks about what ever he wants."

Maria shook her head, "I agree, lets sick the lawyers on him." she told them.

Liz laughed, "I will talk to my dad about it." she told them both then changed the subject. "So was everything good at school today?"

Max shook his head, "yeah." he smiled then asked, "What about you? Your dad said you had a hard night, he said you had some bad dreams so you went out today instead."

Liz looked down at the table, "That is so embarrassing that he told you that." she blushed.

Maria laughed, "The dreams were not so fun, but we had a good time today ugh Liz." she said quickly changing the subject.

Liz shook her head, "Yeah we went shopping and took a drive to the Indian Reservation." she told him.

"We got some amazing food at this little place called Yiya." Maria told him. "The name Yiya literally means eat in the Navajo language so it was kind of cool to check it out."

"Sounds like a great day." he told her as Liz's dad walked in with the pizza.

"Here you go eat up and enjoy." he told them as he headed back out toward the kitchen.

Liz smiled at Max, she reached over and grabbed the bottle of Tabasco and handed it to him, "Here you go." she told him.

Max took it and dumped it on his pizza. He knew she was feeling better, what he said before to Isabel was true. He could tell that with him she felt safe, but he wondered how long that would last if he told her who he really was. They spent the rest of the afternoon laughing until finally Maria said she had to go. "Text me later and do like Max said, talk to your dad. Don't let the sheriff get away with this kind of stuff." she told her as she headed toward the kitchen.

Max stood up, he glanced down at his watch, "I should go too." he told her.

Liz grabbed his hand, "Thanks for hanging out here with me." she told him. "It means a lot to me that your still willing to be my friend."

Max smiled, "Your friendship means a lot to me too." he told her.

Liz suddenly felt really drawn to him, "Max..." she started to say then caught herself.

He looked into her eyes, "Yeah?"

She shook her head, "Nothing, its nothing." she told him as she walked out toward the back door.

"See you tomorrow." he told her.

Liz smiled, "As long as the sheriff doesn't find some reason to drag me off." she told him.

Max took her hand in his, "Don't worry Liz, I would never let him do that." he told her.

Liz breath caught in her chest as he held her hand. She felt the connection there suddenly and it was so strong, she stared into his eyes and whispered, "I will see you tomorrow."

(author note :I wasn't really sure if this story was worth continuing or not? I just wondered for those who are reading it if there is still the interest or not? )


	9. Chapter 9

Liz walked into the sheriff office with her dad and Philip Evans following behind her. She kept telling herself that everything would be fine. She focused on what she knew she needed to do. "Hello sheriff Valenti."

"Miss Parker, I'm glad to hear your doing better." he told her as he motioned for her to sit down.

Jeff sat down next to Liz, "I just want you to know Sheriff that I assured Liz that she was in no trouble here and that I am sure this would be the last time you have to question her. She does not want to keep missing school."

Sheriff Valenti sat down behind his desk, "I understand your concern for Liz, Jeff but a crime still took place and Liz is our primary witness besides her friend Maria."

Philip smiled, "lets just make sure that this interview insures that my client is treated like a witness and not someone who is being interrogated."

The sheriff smiled, "Of course." he told them as he turned to Liz. "Now Liz..."

Philip interrupted, "Just one thing before we get started Sheriff, I have advised Liz that if any of the questions make her feel uncomfortable in any way she has a right not to answer, she is not in any trouble here and I just think it will go along way for you just let us all know that we are on the same page, which is to catch the guy who fired the gun in the first place."

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "Yeah of course." he smiled as he looked over at Liz. "Now can you tell me what you remember about the shooting."

Liz took in a deep breath, "I told you, I was waiting on tables. There were a lot of customers in the restaurant because of the UFO convention going on. Maria and I were both working. I remember hearing Maria scream at me there were two guys fighting and one of them pulled out a guy. I remember hearing someone yell to get down, but before I could react the gun went off." she told him.

The sheriff nodded his head, "Alright, take your time and think carefully what happened next?" he asked her.

Liz eyes welled up with tears, "I remembering feeling really intense pain in my chest, I was having a really hard time breathing and then everything went dark."

"Do you remembering anyone coming over to you or touching you?" the sheriff asked her.

Liz shook her head, "No, I have no memory of anything after that until I woke up in the hospital." she told him emphatically.

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "Do you remember who was in the restaurant before the shooting occurred?" he asked her.

Liz thought about it, "there were a few locals, but mostly people from out-of-town in for the convention." she told him.

"I have witnesses that said that the gunmen and the man he was arguing with ran out of the Crashdown and we know that several others ran from the scene as well" he told her then asked, "Maria said that Max Evans came over to you when you were first shot do you remember him coming over to you?"

Liz shook her head, "No I don't. I know it happened because Maria told me it happened, but I don't remember seeing him at all."

The sheriff smiled trying to keep his frustration in check, "Alright then Liz what about later on at the hospital?" he asked her, "What can you tell me about what happened there?"

Liz took in a deep breath, "I really don't have much memory about it. I was told that once I was at the hospital I was rushed into surgery and then after that they put me into a ICU room."

"What about while you were in that room, did someone come in with you?" he asked her.

Liz shook her head, "I don't know..." she told him.

"Think hard, I realize you were just coming out of surgery, but were you aware of anything or anyone being in that room with you?" the sheriff pressed her.

Liz closed her eyes to think for a moment, "Sheriff I am just not sure what you want me to say, I don't remember bring aware of anything. I remember it being dark and cold." she lied to him.

The sheriff looked at Liz intently, "I have a witness, one of the nurses said you were calling out for someone named Max." he said watching her reaction, "Liz did Max come to the hospital to see you that night?"

Liz heart began to race, she swallowed and looked over at Philip. "I..."

"Are you attempting to accuse my son of something now Sheriff?" Philip asked him, "Because if this is some kind of intimidation tactic I will not hesitate to take this up with internal affairs."

"No" the sheriff told him "I am just trying to put all the pieces to the puzzle together here that is all. I don't want to frighten anyone, but there is always a certain amount of risk that one or both of these guys might come back to harm Liz or anyone else that might have seen something or know something." he explained. "So Liz was Max there at the hospital that night?" he asked her again.

Liz shook her head, "I don't know." she told him.

"Let me ask you this is it possible that he was there with you?" the sheriff asked.

Phillip shook his head, "Sheriff, you already asked Max this question and he said he went home after the shooting and stayed there the rest of the night." he told him, "So I fail to see what you are hoping to gain by asking these questions. Liz already told you she did not know who was there."

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "I am just trying to understand why Liz would be calling out for Max if he wasn't there that night." he told him then looked at Liz and said, "Liz why would you be calling for Max if he wasn't there?"

Liz tried to think of what to say next, she didn't know why, but she had this overwhelming need to protect Max. She took in a deep breath as tear's formed in her eyes, she looked over at Philip Evans, "This is so embarrassing..." she told them.

Jeff could see his daughter was upset, "You don't have to answer Lizzy if you don't want to."

Liz sniffled in and wiped her eyes as more fresh tears spilled down, "If I did call out Max's name it is probably because as I was waking up there were a lot of images and people on my mind...I was thinking about my parents, Maria and Alex" she wiped away the tears again and then mumbled, "and Max." she admitted.

"So you telling us that Max was just one of the many people who you happen to be thinking about, and that you were thinking of him so much that you called out his name several times." the sheriff asked her, doubtful that any of it was true.

Liz swallowed, "Yes, its true Max was on my mind because..." she paused for a minute and looked over and Philip, then lowered her eyes down to the floor, "I have had a huge crush on Max ever since the third grade..." she told them. "I might have been dreaming about him so it is possible that I was calling his name when I was waking up... please don't tell him though, he doesn't know how I feel about him and I really don't want things to be awkward with us. He has been a really good friend to me."

Philip smiled and handed her a tissue, "Its alright Liz everything that is said stays in this room." he assured her. Then he turned to the sheriff, "I fail to see how this line of questioning is going to help you catch the two guys that are involved with the shooting itself. I am advising my client not to answer this line of questioning unless you can show us some reason it would be relevant to the case. She has stated over and over that she does not remember what happened so asking her questions of such a personal nature are completely improper."

The sheriff sat back in his chair and narrowed his eyes, "I am trying to figure out how to resolve some of these conflicting accounts from witnesses at the Crashdown and at the hospital." he told them. "Now Liz I understand that you were under the influence of medication, but your doctor told me that once what ever occurred to heal you happened your mind and body were fully functioning, he said you may have been a bit disoriented, but no more than if you were coming out of a dream."

Liz was just about to say something when Philip spoke, "I must ask you again what does this have to do with anything."

"Because I have witness that is sure they saw someone, come out of Liz room just moments after her monitors in the room went off. I also have at least three nurses who remember her calling out for Max as she was waking up." the sheriff told him. "I am just trying to understand why she would do that if he wasn't there?"

Liz let out a small sigh, "I don't know, like I said I don't remember. I woke up I didn't even really know where I was." she told him."I don't remember calling out for Max, but if you say I did then I guess I did."

The sheriff looked at Liz intently, "The nurse said you were calling out for Max and asked if her were there."

Liz heart began to race, she swallowed and looked over at Philip. "I don't remember anyone being there with me." she said again.

"Are you very sure?" he told her. "Is it possible you are trying to protect someone?"

Phillip shook his head, "Sheriff what are you suggesting, even if someone were in the room with her what does it matter? No crime was committed, my client has answered your question. She does not remember. Lets move on here."

The sheriff pushed forward in his chair and reached for a file in front of him. He scanned over his notes then looked up, "There were at least two nurses on duty that night that heard you calling out for Max. One of the nurses believes that you were behaving as if you had been speaking with another person, she said, "I observed Miss Parker when I first arrived in the room to be upset, she was mumbling someones name, but I couldn't fully make it out. I tried to calm her down and then she asked me is he here, is Max here?" He finished reading the statement, "So what I am trying to find out is who was there with you Liz?"

"I don't know." she told him feeling frustrated.

"Miss Parker someone was there with you and I think you do know who they were..." the sheriff began to say. "Was it Max, according to the news they have reported you and Max have been seen together quite a bit lately. If the two of you were dating, and he is your boyfriend you might be covering up to protect him."

Phillip interrupted him, "what is it exactly she would be protecting him from?" he demanded. "Even if Max was at the hospital what exactly is it you think happened?"

The sheriff lowered his eyes back down to the file in front of him, "I think it is possible that Max is involved some how with Liz's recovery."

Phillip almost laughed, "That is completely ridicules." he told he as looked over and Jeff and Liz. "I think we are done here."

Jeff stood up, "I think Liz has had to go through enough here this morning." he told the sheriff, "I appreciate your wanting to keep her safe, but I really don't think either of those fellas is a threat to my daughter. From the way they ran after the gun went off I don't think they are blood thirsty killers so while I realize you have your job to do, I think we are done."

The sheriff nodded his head, "I hope your right Jeff, but let me just say we can't be to careful. There has been a lot of news surrounding this case. I am just trying to keep everyone safe." he told him trying to plant fear for Liz into his mind. He had to be able to question her further and it was becoming more evident that he would have to wait for an opportunity when her father and lawyer weren't there.

"If you want to keep her safe then find the two guys who shot her and keep the press away from us. She has been practically living like a prisoner in her own home because of their non stop hounding. We have even thought about sending her to stay with family because of this and that shouldn't be going on." Jeff told him.

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "I will make sure that the press are kept back and tell my officers to enforce the cities loitering law." he told them then he looked at Liz, "If I need to speak with you further I will be in touch." he told them.

Phillip turned to the sheriff, "Just so we are clear if you need to speak with Liz again contact me. I do not want my client interviewed without me being present." he told him. "She is a minor and we are not going to come in for these kinds of questions any longer."

Jim nodded his head, "Of course." he said.

Maria waited at school for Liz to come, but by fourth period she knew she wasn't going to be there. She was heading toward her car when Alex grabbed a hold of her arm, "So what is going on?" he asked her. "Why are you leaving school?"

She pulled out her keys, "I am going over to the Crashdown." she told him.

"Is it true, is Liz absent today because Valenti called her in for questions?" he asked her.

"I don't know why she didn't come to school, but yeah she had to go in this morning again." Maria told him.

"Why?" he asked her.

"I don't know. Liz doesn't know either. The sheriff is practically harassing her." Maria told him. "I just want to go over and make sure she is doing alright."

"Yeah well call me later let me know how she is doing?" He told her.

"I will." she told him as she got in her car. "If Liz was going to go back to see that lady at the reservation then Maria wanted to be sure she didn't go alone.

Liz took out her phone and was just about to send a text to Maria when she saw a message from Max,  
"Hope you are doing alright. Missing you in Biology class, not the same with out you here." She smiled, "Am doing fine, sheriff was really determined but your dad was amazing." she wrote to him.

Max phone went off, he read her text, "Glad my dad was there to help. What exactly did the sheriff want to know?" he typed.

"He kept asking what I remember when I was in the hospital. He tried to say he was worried these two guys were going to come after me, but that doesn't make since, I never saw them. If they really were after anyone it would be Maria, but he doesn't seem to concerned for her." she wrote.

Max read her text, "Did my dad think you were in any kind of danger?" he asked worried for her.

Liz smiled, as she responded, "I don't think so, but my dad is more worried about me since this has all happened." she told him.

"I can understand that." he wrote to her.

"Do you think you could come by later so we could talk in person." she typed and hit send. "Please don't say no." she mumbled to herself.

"Yeah of course. See you tonight around 7:00." he responded.

Liz took in a deep breath, "thanks" she typed, "See you then."

It was the sound of Maria coming up the stairs that got her attention. "Liz you up here?" she heard her call out.

Liz slipped her phone in her pocket and walked over to her door, "yeah." she called out as she walked over and sat down on her bed.

Maria walked into the room, "So what happened? How did things go?" she asked as she came in and sat down across from Liz.

"He was asking if someone was in the room with me at the hospital." Liz told her.

"What did you tell him?" Maria asked.

"I told him I can't remember anything about that night, but he was insistent that someone was there with me. He said the nurses gave statements that I was calling out for Max." she told her.

Maria didn't seem surprised by that bit of news, "So what does that matter?" she commented.

He thinks that it was Max that was at the hospital with me." she told her.

"But he wasn't there, at least I didn't see him there." Maria told her. "I know I was upset but I think I would have notice him there."

Liz bit her lip, "Maria I don't know if he was or not." she told her in frustration, "I just wish I could remember more of what happened."

Maria shook her head, "Liz if the sheriff is so determined there has to be a reason why he is going after you like he is. Maybe if we go see Letitia we can find out what that reason might be."

Liz grabbed her hoodie, and went to her dresser to get the necklace from her jewelery box. As soon as she picked it up her mind was filled with flashes again, she was walking through the desert with someone, they were holding hands and it was dark. It was cold, very cold and then there were lights, bright lights headed toward her. She felt her heart pounding in her chest. She slipped the necklace into her pocket and turned to Maria.

"Did you see things again?" she asked her.

Liz shook her head, "I did see more flashes and something about them is really familiar to me." she told her as she walked back over to her computer, she sat down and turned her laptop on, "Max was adopted right, I remember him and Isabel were adopted and there was some crazy rumors going on around the time they first came to school." she told her.

"I remember they had a rough time of it at first. Lots of the kids being mean and teasing them." she tried to remember, "Do you remember what that was all about?"

Liz shook her head, as she typed the search "If I remember it's because when they were first found, they were wandering around out in the desert alone." she told her, "I think I remember my mom telling me that they were abandoned by their real parents." she said, "here it is, this is the news story."

They both read...

Roswell continues to live up to its reputation for strange happenings as first was reported two days ago a young boy and girl were found by a local couple wandering alone in the desert. The two small children had no memory about where they had been or what might have happened to their parents. Just when we thought things couldn't get any more strange with this story a third child has been found, this time a little boy was found very near the same area of road walking by himself after dark. All three children seem to be in good health with no medical issues, said Dr. Pritchard of Roswell family care. Police have placed the third boy with social services care, while the first two children found have been placed into the care of the couple who first found them, Diane and Philip Evans. Mr. Evans is a prominent attorney in Roswell and has said that if their parents are unable to be located he and his wife will be looking into adopting them. These strange events have left some asking questions, where did these three children come from? Where are their parents and why were they found walking alone in the deserts of New Mexico? Conspiracy theorist are already coming up with speculations from secret government projects to alien abductions. Whatever the answers are only the future will tell. In the mean time at least these children are safe.

Liz finished reading and looked over at Maria, "Dr. Pritchard is my doctor." she reminded Maria.

"Yeah, his my doctor too." Maria told her. "Is there any other stories about them?"

Liz clicked through a few more links, "Just a few, this one says that no family has come forward in the past six months to claim relationship to any of the three children and that the planned adoption of Max and Isabel Evans is moving forward now that all legal formalities have been cleared." she told her then said, "This last one just mentions that Michael was placed with a large family who takes in foster children until a more permanent situation can be found."

Maria took in a deep breath, "What do you think it all means?" she asked. "How is it connected to the flashes you had."

"In the flashes its like I am walking through the desert with someone, it's almost like I am seeing what they are seeing." she told her as she scanned back over the article, "Maria the way Max and Isabel were found fit with what I saw both times." she told her then said, "If the flashes were from Max?" she said as she looked over at her, "Then why would I be having them now?"

"Liz you said yourself you don't really know they are from him." Maria told her.

Liz shook her head, "No I didn't actually see him in any of the flashes." she told her. "Besides even if I am somehow connected with Max what does that mean? Did he come to hospital and somehow miraculously heal me?" she mumbled then said, "I need to be really sure before I say anything to him about this. Look at what has happened to me, think about the field day the media would have with Max's past if it ever got out that he was the one..."

"Maybe you should talk to him, tell him what is going on. You said you feel like you can trust him." Maria told her.

"I know, but Maria after reading this what if I am some how wrong and it wasn't really him? This could bring up a lot of painful memories you know. He might think I am saying it him just because of all the crazy rumors about how he was found in the desert and then he would really hate me." she told her. "I really like Max and I don't want jeopardize our friendship."

Maria shook her head, "Then let's go talk to Letitia and see what more she can tell us."

Liz took in a deep breath, "Maria if it was Max who came to the hospital and healed me, why would he do that?"

Maria smiled, "Liz it is so obvious to everyone else, the fact that you don't see it is really sweet. Speaks volumes to who you are at heart," she told her then said, "He is smitten with you." she told her, "He is always watching you, he is always there to be helpful and look how completely wonderful he has been since this whole thing started. If he did have the ability to walk into that hospital and heal you without being noticed I could so believe he would do that for you."

"Maria even if what you are saying is true then how could he do something like that?" she asked her.

"He was found wandering in the desert without any parents, for all we know Max and Isabel could be government sponsored experiments." she told her.

Liz laughed, "Now you are sounding like your mother." she told her.

"Well let's go talk to Letitia she gave you that necklace maybe she can give you some answers." Maria told her.

Liz shook her head, "Ok but Maria you say nothing to no one about Max." she reminded her as she followed her to the car. For a moment she felt herself getting dizzy and her vision blurred. "Maria I don't feel..." she started to say but then the sensations disappeared and she was fine. "Never mind." she told her as she looked in the alley way. She could hear the clicking of camera's going off but the two police officers the sheriff had posted to keep the press further back seemed to be working. She got into the car and they slowly made their way down the alley way. As they went reporters began calling out to her and screaming questions at her. She kept her hoodie on and lowered her head. "Maybe I should just go stay with my aunt for a while." she mumbled.

Max was walking back to his class when suddenly his mind was filled with visions of him and Isabel the night their parents found them. He remembered feeling how cold it was and then the seeing their car lights shining toward them. He remembered how afraid he was at first and his heart began racing as he stumbled backward. Michael saw him about to fall and he went over and helped into a nearby empty class room.

"Maxwell you alright?" he asked him.

Max tried to focus and clear his mind, as the images left he suddenly felt dizzy and his vision blurred. "I don't know, it's not me." he told him as the symptoms suddenly vanished.

"What do you mean it's not you?" he asked him.

"It was Liz." he told him as he tried to clear his head. He walked over and sat down, "This connection with her, it's not getting weaker it's getting stronger." he told him. "She has come in contact with something that I am getting visions from through her."

"Max what you are describing isn't possible, not even the three of us share that kind of link." he told him.

"I know Michael, but it is happening, it's happened twice now." he told him.

"So what the heck does that mean then?" he demanded.

"I think it means I need to talk to Liz soon. Maybe Isabel is right and I should just tell her everything." he told him, "Michael there is something else, the sheriff is asking her a lot of questions, questions he shouldn't be asking. He said he thinks those two guys could come back after Maria and Liz. I am going to talk to my dad about this, but maybe you should keep an eye on Maria just in case."

Michael shook his head, "Great so now I get to play babysitter." he snapped.

"Would you rather have the sheriff watching over the two of them while I am still connected to her like this?" he asked him.

Michael shook his head, "NO. I will keep my eye on her." he told him.

"Miss Colleen Smith?" the sheriff asked as has he came up to the nurse station.

"Yes I am Colleen Smith." she told him as she continued working on her patient charts.

"Dr Hastings said you were on duty the night that Miss Parker was brought in, is that correct?" the sheriff asked her.

Colleen nodded her head, "Yes I was the head nurse that night that she was brought in." she told him.

"I know you have already given my deputy an official statement, but I wonder if you could answer a few questions for me?" he asked her.

She let a heavy sigh, "I really am kind of busy tonight..." she told him

"It would help me out a lot and I would really appreciate any time you can give me." he told her.

She glanced down at her watch, "Alright fine I have a few minutes before I have to do rounds. What can I help you with?" she asked.

"I was wondering, besides the obvious events of that night if you noticed anything else that seemed odd, were there any other people hanging around that seemed like that shouldn't be here?" he asked her.

Colleen thought for a moment, "No not that I recall. Her family was here, some of her friends where here, but no one else."

"Are you very sure that no one else was here or hanging around her room?" the sheriff asked.

Colleen shook her head, "No I didn't see anyone else." she told him.

"Are you sure, one of the other nurses mentioned that she thought maybe there was someone else standing just outside the waiting room for a time, but she couldn't remember seeing him later around the time Miss Parker was healed." he told her.

Colleen shook her head, "We did have two other emergency events that night, so we were kind of busy. I honestly don't remember seeing anyone outside the waiting room except those people I mentioned." she told him.

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "Did anyone else besides her family come in or call and ask about her that night?" he asked.

Colleen thought for a moment, "Yes there was a young man who came by in the morning after Miss Parker had already gone home. He said he was a friend from school and he was just checking on her." she told him then added, "But truthfully sheriff by that time the press was already getting wind of what happened and we had a lot of people starting to call and ask about her situation."

"I understand things got pretty crazy very quickly." he smiled as he took his hat off and ran his hand through his hair. "I just have a few more questions, the other nurse I spoke to mentioned that when she first came into the room Miss Parker was calling out someones name, she said it was as if she were looking for someone..." he told her then asked, "Did you happen to overhear her calling out for someone, maybe her parents, or?"

Colleen took in a deep breath, "She did call out for someone, the name was Max. She called out to him a couple of times but Dr. Hastings had given her some pretty strong pain medications so she was pretty sedated at that point. I imagine that she could have been mumbling just about anything."

"But she wasn't mumbling you said she called out to Max?" he asked her to be sure.

Colleen nodded her head, "Yes that was the name I heard." she told him as she glanced down at her watch again.

The sheriff could see she was getting impatient he smiled, "One last question I promise. Was there anything at all that you noticed about Miss Parker's physical appearance after this all happened. According to her medical chart you took her vitals just before six am...was there anything unusual that you noticed?"

Colleen thought about it for a moment, "I did write in my chart that I thought I saw a strange kind of marking on her chest just over where the gunshot wound had been, but she was released later and no one else made comment to it so I assumed I was just fatigued from the long night."

The sheriff eyes narrowed, "Can I ask why you didn't bring this marking as you call it to the doctors attention?"

"Well because right after I finished taking her vitals we had another situation come into the ER. A woman in heavy labor who was about to give birth to triplets. I had to rush off to help do an emergency c-section. By the time I got back down here Miss Parker's doctor had signed the orders for her release so I assumed she was fine." she told him. "I did make note of it though in her chart when I took her vitals." she told him.

"I looked over her chart and I did not see any reference to that mark." he told her.

Colleen took in a deep breath and shook her head, "It's there I typed it up myself." she told him as she began typing in Liz information. She waited for the file to come up but nothing happened. "That's strange, her file is gone."

"How is that possible?" the sheriff asked her.

"I don't know, it's should be here, but its gone. Her entire medical chart for that night is not in the system." she told him.

The sheriff just smiled and shook his head, "Well perhaps a computer error." he told her, "Thank you for your time, you have been really helpful." The sheriff headed out of the hospital, once in his car he unlocked his briefcase and pulled out some old case files, he flipped through them one by one. There was one in particular that he began rereading through. After several minutes he called his deputy, "Do me a favor call over to the school and tell them I need to speak to some of the students concerning this case. I will be there later this tomorrow morning. Have the principle call me if he needs to and for now I don't want parents involved." he told him then said. "Oh and call over to child protective services I want to see if I can get my hands on some adoption records for Max Evans and call the county I want birth records for Elizabeth Parker."

Dr. Pritchard sat in his office going over medical records when a knock came to his office door, he looked up and saw the sheriff standing there in the door way. "Sheriff Valanti what can I do for you?" he asked.

The sheriff stepped inside his office and closed the door behind him, "Dr. Pritchard it is good to see you again." he said as he extending his hand as shook hands with the Doctor.

"It has been awhile since you last had Kyle into my office." he told him, "But then Kyle always was very healthy." he said as they both sat down.

The sheriff smiled, "I am here to ask you some questions about Elizabeth Parker actually." he told him.

Dr. Pritchard smiled, "What kind of questions?" he asked as he sat up in his chair.

"Well I would like to know about her health history, actually." he told him.

Dr. Prithcard shook his head, "Why would you need to be looking into that?" he asked him.

"It's all apart of my investigation into the shooting." he told him.

"Oh I see." he said then asked, "Well I will answer what questions I can, but I don't need to remind you that her medical records are private and without a parental release I can't speak with you about any of her other health issues."

The sheriff seemed annoyed, "I understand." he told him then said, "I spoke with Dr. Hastings earlier today and he said that he felt Elizabeth Parker should have remained in the hospital that it was you who released her against his judgment."

Dr Pritchard shook his head, "Yes that is correct. Dr. Hastings wasn't interested in Miss Parker's health and welfare, he was interested in the medical write-up and recognition he felt he deserved because of her recovery." he told him then said, "As if he even had anything at all to do with it."

The sheriff smiled, "Well you do have to admit the circumstance around her recovery were extremely unusual weren't they?" he asked him.

Dr. Pritchard shook his head, "Sheriff what does this have to do with your case?" he asked him.

"I am just trying to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together that's all." he told him, "Dr. Hastings is convinced that Liz's own body some how healed itself. He believes she.."

"Sheriff I can't tell you what happened in that room. I don't think we will ever know for sure what really happened." he told him, "But Elizabeth Parker is as normal as every other teenager in this town. I was there at her birth, she has never shown any kind of special or unique ability to heal herself."

"Well how do you explain what happened to her then?" the sheriff asked.

Dr. Pritchard smiled, "Liz Parker is a beautiful young girl who didn't deserve what happened to her so maybe someone, somewhere heard her fathers prayers and a miracle happened. There have been many miraculous healing that have happened all over the world. Sometimes things happen and we don't always understand the reasons why."

The sheriff shook his head, "That sounds real nice and all but I don't think that's what happened at all doctor." he told him then said, "Tell me before you released Liz did you examine her?" he asked.

Dr. Pritchard shook his head, "yes of course I did."

"Did you happen to notice a strange marking on the left side of her chest over where the wound was located?" he asked him.

Dr. Pritchard looked at him intently, "What kind of marking are you referring to?" he asked.

"The head nurse on duty said that when she went in just before six am to take Liz's vitals she noticed a strange marking on her chest where the wound had been. She said it was in the shape of a human hand print and that it appeared to almost be glowing." he told him.

"Sheriff I did not notice any such marking on her at the time she was released. Perhaps this nurse was confused, it was my understanding that there were several other emergency that night and things were rather hectic." he told him.

"Thank you for your time Dr. Pritchard." he told him as he left the office and closed the door.

Dr. Pritchard waited until the sheriff was gone then he called Nancy Parker, "Hello Nancy I just thought I would call and check on how Liz is doing?" he asked her.

"Oh thank you doctor for calling." she said, "She is doing fine, she did have some bad dreams the other night, but other wise she is doing fine."

"I would really like to do a follow-up in my office, how about tomorrow morning. Have her come round before school starts. That way she wont have to miss any of her classes." he told her.

"I will let her know as soon as she gets home." Nancy told him before she hung up.

Dr. Pritchard dialed another number, "Yes hello." he said into the phone, "Things here have gotten less manageable I am going to need your help." he said then continued, "yes make it high-profile, and make sure the press gets a hold of it." he said before he hung up.

Max left school and drove over to see his dad. "Max what are you doing here?" his dad asked him as he stepped out of his office.

Max smiled, "I just needed to talk to you." he told him.

Phillip nodded his head, "Sure thing." he said as he motioned for him to come inside, "Sally will you hold my calls for me." he told his secretary before closing his door.

Max went in a sat down while Phillip walked over and sat down at his desk, "So am I right in guessing this has to do with Liz?" he asked him.

Max shook his head, "Yeah she was upset after this last meeting with the sheriff and she sent me a text." he explained.

"Well the sheriff was way out of line and both Jeff and I let him know that." he told him. "I am actually perplexed by his actions in all of this."

"Isn't there anything that you can do to keep him from harassing her?" Max asked, "I mean she is getting it from the press and him both."

Phillip smiled, "You care about Liz don't you?" he commented.

Max shifted he was a little embarrassed, "She's a friend so yeah I care about what happens to her."

"Well as her friend I think you should keep doing what you're doing Max." he told him, "Be there for her and listen when she needs to talk. As far as the sheriff goes if he keeps dragging her in with out some kind of formal charge to level I will file a complaint with internal affairs and I told him as much at out last meeting. The sheriff's a good man and I have always respected him but what ever he thinks he is after in this case he is looking in the wrong direction." he told him.

Max was relieved, "Liz mentioned that the sheriff said something about these guys maybe coming back for her or Maria, do you think that's possible?" he asked him.

Phillip shook his head, "Max I sure hope not but if these guys are involved with some of the drug cartels down in Mexico than its hard to say. I told Jeff to keep a close eye on things and he is going to be having some extra security camera's installed at the Crashdown. Other then that it's up to the sheriff to do his job." he told him then said, "Don't worry Liz will be fine." he told him.

Max got up and walked over to the door, "Well thanks for talking with me." he said.

Phillip smiled, "Max just between you and me, I think Liz is pretty special and if you were to say ask her out some time, I think she would say yes." he told him.

Max shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know maybe." he mumbled as he left the office and headed back to school.

Maria pulled her car up to the Indian Reservation store and the two of them went inside. They saw Letitia there with some other customers and waited until they left to approach her. "Hi, we were in here yesterday remember." Liz asked.

She looked at Maria then at Liz, "I knew you would come back." she smiled. "We will go and meet with my friend." she told her as she walked over to the windows and looked out, "You weren't followed were you?"

Maria shook her head, "I don't think so." she told her.

Letitia looked around one last time to make sure there were not strange cars nearby. "You must be careful from now on." she told them as she motioned for them to come, "You can drive I will show you the way." she grabbed her keys and locked up her store before getting into the back seat of Maria's car. "My friend's name is River Dog. He is a good man but very cautious." she told them as they drove further into the reservation down a long dirt road.

"Does your friend know Ayush?" Liz asked. "You said he is the one who healed me right?"

She nodded her head, "He does know Ayush." she told her. "Just wait he will be able to help you." she told her.

Liz looked over at Maria then back out her window. She was actually feeling really afraid and in that moment she wished Max was there with her. She didn't know why she thought of him first but she did. As Maria brought the car to a stop Letitia motioned for them to follow her, "We will have to walk the rest of the way." she told them.

Maria looked down at her shoes, "I am not exactly dressed for hiking through the desert." she told her then said, "Couldn't you just ask your friend to come and meet us here."

She shook her head, "No, the things he has to show you are out there in the caves." she told her.

Maria turned to Liz, "I'm not so sure this is a good idea." she told her.

Liz shook her head, "Maria you can wait here, but I feel like I have to go." she told her. "I can't explain it I feel like it's really important."

Maria took in a deep breath and shook her head, "yeah ok." she told her as they followed Letitia away from the road and back up into the desert.

They must have walked for a least twenty minutes before Letitia stopped and pointed over to the caves. "He is in there waiting for you." she said as she led the way.

Once they were walked into the cave Liz began to feel dizzy again, her vision began to blur and everything looked distorted. She reached out her hand to Maria, "Its happening again." she said as she tried to clear her head.

Maria helped her as they walked into the cave, "Liz are you alright?" she asked her voice filled with concern.

Liz took in a deep breath and tried again to clear her head, "Yeah, its gone now." she told her as the dizziness and blurring vision passed.

Both Liz and Maria stopped as an older man came toward them. Letitia went up to him and spoke to him in another language then she turned to Liz. "Liz this is my brother, River Dog." she said.

Liz walked over, "My name is Liz Parker and this is my friend Maria." she told him. She looked about the cave, there was a small fire lit in the middle of the cave and some blankets to sit on just around it. She turned and looked at the walls, there were symbols carved on them. She walked over and looked more closely. They almost appeared as if they had been burned into the wall of the cave, but they looked old, at least fifty years or more and nothing she could think of would have been able to burn into rock in that time frame like that. "These symbols do you know how long they have been here?" she asked.

River Dog walked over to her, "Have you seen this writing before?" he asked her.

Liz wasn't sure what to say, she knew the symbols, but she wasn't sure how, it was like she was seeing them and remembering them, but the memory belong to another. Liz pull the necklace from her pocket and held on to it as flashes filled her mind. "I have seen this before..." she started to say then corrected herself, "He has seen it before." she said as she reached out and touched the wall. Her mind was filled with flashes of someone, they were running from the police or the military. She couldn't be sure she only knew they were filled with fear and they came here. She pulled her hand away and the flash ended. "Who made these carvings into the wall?" she asked.

"Ayush did." Letitia answered her. "He was here for a time. I hid him here from those who wanted to take him." she told them.

River Dog motioned for them to come and sit near the fire, "Please come and sit here we will talk." he told them both.

Maria walked over and sat down next to Liz. "So who exactly is Ayush?" Maria asked.

Letitia sat down and answered her, "He was different, he came here a long time ago. We were just children when we found him. He was hurt and their were men who wanted to take him. He pleaded with us to help him and we did."

River Dog placed another log on the fire,"You are not one of the children the man spoke of, but you are different. Something is happening, I do not know what, but I can see something is happening inside of you." he said as he looked intently at Liz.

Liz shook her head, "What do you mean, something is happening inside of me?"

He looked at her more intently and smiled, "You came because Letitia gave you the necklace, it held meaning for you?" he asked her without answering her question.

Liz shook her head as she handed the necklace over to River Dog, "No, not exactly." she told him. "When she gave it to me I saw things, but I know they are not my memories." she tried to explain.

River Dog took the necklace in his hand, "Even though you are not one of them, there is something very special about you." he told her as he held out his hand, "May I hold your hand?" he asked her.

Liz looked over at Maria then back to River Dog. She held her hand out to him. He took hold of it and closed his eyes. He focused his mind on truly seeing her then he opened his eyes again, "There are those among us who are different, they were sent here for a purpose." he told her. "He came to you while you were hurt, when you were dying and he touched you. He used his ability to heal you." he told her. "When he did this a connection between the two of you was created." he told her, "It is very strong, but I can see you do not understand it. He knows you, he has very strong feelings for you, but for now remains in the shadows. Because of this connection your lives are now linked together, you carry a part of him with you even now."

"I don't understand, I don't know what you mean how can my life be linked to someone I don't even know." she told him.

"Liz we are all linked together in some way." River Dog told her, "You are linked to your friend Maria, and she is to you. There is a bond forged there from many years of friendship and so it is with this person who came to you only the bond is much stronger."

"Who is he?" Liz asked him. "Who was it that came to me and saved me? Was it Ayush?"

River Dog shook his head, "No it was not Ayush." he told her, "I do not know his name." he told her, "As I said he remains in the shadows for now and his secret is not mine to tell."

Liz shook her head, "Nothing you have said makes sense to me."

River Dog let go of her hand, "I know that it does not make sense to you. I am sorry, I can only tell you that it was not Ayush that healed you. It was another, I believe he was one whom Ayush came here to protect. This boy has chosen to risk much by doing what he has done, there is great danger for him and you. You must be careful and remember what I have said to you here today." told her as he handed her the necklace, "I believe one day the things you have heard and seen will have great meaning for him. Keep this, it belongs to you now."

Liz just stood there she had hoped to find out more, "Please I need help, if you know who healed me, if you know anything at all please tell me." she asked him. "The sheriff he is asking all these questions and I don't know what to do."

River Dog took in a deep breath, "You want to protect him, the one who saved you, I can feel it inside your heart." he told her.

She shook her head, "Yes. I owe him my life." she told him.

"Then you will need to be strong." he told her as he stood up and walked over to her. "Keep the necklace and be weary there are those who would seek to do you and him great harm." he warned her.

"What about the sheriff?" Maria asked him, "Why is he coming after her so much do you know?"

Letitia looked over at River Dog and nodded her head, "Be careful of the sheriff, he is a good man, but there are ghost from his past that are now clouding his judgment." River Dog told them.

Maria could see Liz was disappointed, "Come on Liz we should get back home." she told her as she reached over to her and pulled her arm. Liz followed her out of the cave and back to the car. It was getting late by the time they heading back to the Crashdown. "I called my dad so he wouldn't worry." Liz told Maria.


	10. Chapter 10

Maria drove up to her house and noticed a black car was following behind her. She opened the garage door and pulled inside then hurried and closed it. She pulled out her phone and was just about to send a text when she heard a motorcycle pull up into her drive way. She looked through the window to see Michael waiting there for her. She looked back over towards the street but the car that was following her was gone. She took in a deep breath, "Michael why are you here?" she asked him.

He pulled his helmet off and shrugged his shoulders, "You missed art class two days in a row." he commented, "I just thought I would check in on you."

Maria smiled, "That's really nice of you." she told him then said, "Do you want to come inside?"

"I don't think so." he told her then said, "I don't do so well with parents."

She laughed, "Well I only have one parent and she is about to come backing out of the drive way any minutes yelling about being late." she told him just as the door opened to the garage.

Mrs. De Luca stopped her car near Maria, "You were late again, now I am late." she told her then said, "There's a large pizza on the counter and Pepsi in the fridge if your friend is staying for dinner with you."

Maria shook her head, "Thanks mom." she said, "Just so you know this is Michael."

She looked at him and smiled, "Nice to meet you Michael." she pulled down the drive way and then sped off.

Michael almost laughed, "That was your mom?" he asked Maria.

She shook her head, "Yeah, she can be a little scatter brained at times. We are working on that." she told him then asked, "What do you say, large pizza and soda for dinner probably better than what ever your mom is going to make."

Michael took in a deep breath, "I don't have a mom or a dad." he told her, "Foster care."

Maria leaned over toward him, "Well then pizza will definitely be better."

He shook his head, "Ok fine." he said as he followed her inside the house.

Maria put her stuff away and flipped on the kitchen light, "So can you answer a question for me?" she asked him.

He shook his head, "Depends on what the question is."

"Relax its nothing private I just wondered since you were following me here from the Crashdown, did you happen to notice that other car that was following me as well?" she asked.

He shook his head, "No I didn't notice anyone else." he lied. He did see a car pull out after she left, it was a black car with two guys in it. That was one of the reasons he followed after her. "So what kind of pizza do we have?"

"It will be cheese and pepperoni because that's all that I like on pizza." she told him.

He shook his head, "Exactly the way I like it, with the exception of one other ingredient." he told her.

Maria reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Tabasco sauce. "Normally I would think you were really weird for eating as much of this stuff as you do but in this case." she said as she poured it unto her pizza, "I happen to agree its the best with that little extra kick."

Michael took the bottle from her and poured it all over his pizza. He watched her as she walked into the living room and sat down to eat in front of the television. Truth was she was pretty cute and he had always been attracted to her. As they spent time together he actually found that he was enjoying himself.

"Where is your mom tonight anyway?" he asked her.

"Oh she had a party, she won't be home until late." she told him.

"What does she do?" he asked her.

"She hosts parties and runs a health food store." she told him. "Tonight's party is a zombie theme I think she said."

"So it's a Halloween party?" he guessed.

"Yep." she said as she finished the last bites of pizza.

"You said its just you and your mom, where is your dad?" he asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders, "That is a very good question, but the answer is long, dull, and boring." was all she said then she asked, "What about you?"

He shook his had, "No parents." he told her, "Like you said, a long, dull, and boring story."

She smiled at him, "Michael why are you really here?" she asked him.

"I told you, I was just wondering what happened to you since you missed two days of school." he told her.

"You know of course I don't believe a word of that right?" she said as she picked up the remote to the TV.

He shrugged his shoulders, "It's the truth, I just thought I would see how things are going." he lied.

Maria got up and walked over to him, she sat down right next to him on the couch. "So you just waited around at the Crashdown for me to get back with Liz, then you followed me out to my car and followed me to my house just to ask me why I haven't been in class for two days?" she said softly as she leaned in closer and stared into his gorgeous green eyes.

Michael swallowed, his heart was racing and he couldn't explain why she was having such an effect on him. Having her so close was making him feel rather unnerved. He cleared his throat as he looked into her eyes, "umm yeah." he mumbled softly.

Maria smiled, "Ok then." she said as she turned and flipped through the movie guide, "Since you are here there is this movie I have been dying to watch, but I will admit, I am to afraid to do so on my own so you get to hang out and watch it with me." she told him as she cued it up.

Michael shook his head, "Yeah sure." he told her as she grabbed a blanket and pulled it up over her lap.

As the movie began to play she turned to him, "I must warn you I have been known to scream and jump frequently in these kinds of movies. So if I grab your hand or something you'll know why."

Michael didn't say anything he just mumbled, "Whatever." as the movie began he kept watching her out of the corner of his eye. She was actually pretty amazing, he liked the way she stood by her friend through all the craziness that was going on. He shook his head and took in a deep breath, he found himself wishing the movie would hurry up and get to the parts were she might grab hold of him, he suddenly found himself realizing he wouldn't mind holding her back.

Max waited until after his parents went into bed then he went to talk with Isabel, "Liz said they were at the Indian Reservation today." he told her. "She was wearing this necklace, it had this really strange symbol carved into it. She said her friend gave it to her but she didn't mention the friend's name. I recognize the symbol on the necklace as the same from the cave. I could feel that she was holding some things back, I think she wants to tell me but is afraid too."

Isabel held her pillow in front of her, "So then Liz has been in contact with someone who knows about us." she said.

Max shook his head, "I think so." he told her then said, "Isabel I know that digging deeper into this scares you, but I think Michael is right, I think we have to."

"Max I just don't want to lose what we have here." she told him honestly, "I love mom and dad, this is my home."

"Isabel I know this is home, but we come from some place else, don't you want to know who we are and why we were sent here?" he asked her.

She took his hand in hers, "Max now that you have Liz would you really still want to take off and leave if you had the chance?" she asked him. "Would you really want to go back to some distant planet and leave her behind? I know Michael would love a chance to leave, but I'm not like the two of you. I feel connected to mom and dad, I feel connected to people here." she told him, "Don't you feel connected to Liz?"

Max took in a deep breath, "Yes I do feel connected to her and its amazing." he said as he thought about how Liz made him feel. "But Isabel we made a promise to each other a long time ago when we first found Michael to help each other some day get home and I am still committed to that promise."

Isabel eyes narrowed, "You would really do that to her?" she asked him feeling defensive for Liz's sake.

"Do what to who?" he asked her.

"Max I saw the two of you in her dream, I saw what happened and how she remembers what you did when you came to her that night." she reminded him, "You told her you love her, Max even I believed that you love her but now hearing you say this I have to tell you I am confused."

He shook his head, "I do care for Liz, " he said as he thought about it, "but I know that you and Michael and getting home has to come first." he told her. "I have never lost sight of that ever. Isabel it maybe that one day we won't be safe here and going home will be our only option."

Isabel shook her head, she felt like she was beginning to understand, "So let me just ask you, what if Liz does remember who you are and she does fall in love with you. What if through all of this she turns to you and then you suddenly find your way home then way happens to her?" she asked him.

He suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the conversation, "Isabel I would never do anything to purposely hurt Liz," he thought about her before he continued speaking, "I do love her, I do." he insisted then said, "But there is something else out there pulling me toward it and I can't just ignore it."

Isabel shook her head, "Then you need to break the connection you have with her, you need to really give her the choice based off all the information if she wants to ever be with you or not. Right now keeping this connection alive between the two of you it's not ok. You know things about her that you shouldn't," she told him.

"I know what I am doing." he told her defensively, then he walked over toward the door to her room.

"Do you?" she asked him. "Max think about it, for Liz suddenly having someone swoop into her life and risk everything to save her then have this strong connection with her the way you do now its got to be intoxicating, its got to be exciting and thrilling, but at what point might she begin to lose herself in it all?" she asked him. "What is she left with when you decided its time to leave and she is alone?"

Max shook his head, "Its not like that, I would never use her and then just..."

"Max right now you know her heart, you know how she is feeling, you are seeing into the deepest parts of her and she doesn't have a choice in what is happening. You can say and do things here to manipulate her feelings and actions with out her even knowing it's happening. You control everything, you have all the power." she warned him. "My guess is that's pretty intoxicating for you too. The girl you have a crush on your whole life, the girl you love finally right there within your reach."

Max didn't say anything more, he turned and went back to his own room. As he climbed into bed he felt frustrated, it wasn't like that with Liz. He wasn't controlling her, he wasn't trying to manipulate her. It was true he did spend more time reading her feelings and emotions and he was beginning to think if he tried hard enough he might be able to read her thoughts, but he had stopped himself from going that far. He closed his eyes and thought about Liz. He focused all of his energy and thoughts on her, he tried to imagine what she looked like when she was asleep. He tried to push the limits of their connection and suddenly he found himself in her room. He saw her there, laying in her bed, she looked so beautiful, so peaceful. She was wearing a pale pink night-shirt and her hair spread out across her pillow. He walked over and reached out his hand to gently brushed the hair away from her face. He caressed her cheek and thought about the things Isabel had said. He took in a deep breath, he couldn't bring himself to end that connection with her no matter what anyone said. She belonged with him.

Liz found herself struggling to stay awake as she sat in the doctor's office. It was way to early but she didn't want to keep missing school so she forced herself to make it see before her classes started. She had to shake her head several times to keep from nodding off. She was still feeling uneasy about seeing the doctor. What if he wanted to exam her, how would she explain the hand print on her chest. She took in a deep breath and tried to focus, her head was so foggy this morning. She didn't sleep well again and had the strangest dreams of Max being in her room with her, it was like he was there but not fully there. The dream seemed so real, she even imagined that he touched her cheek and brushed his hand through her hair. It was the sound of Dr. Pritchard voice that made her jump and brought her out of her thoughts.

"Liz, how are you doing this morning?" he asked her as he opened the door to his waiting room.

"I am a little bit sleepy." she told him.

"Well it is early." he told her then said, "come on in to the exam room one." he motioned for her to follow him.

Liz followed him into the examination room and waited as he closed the door. "Thanks for seeing me so early before classes, I really don't want to miss any more school then I have to."

"It's no problem." he told her. "So Liz I asked your mom to come in here to see how you have been doing? You went through a pretty traumatic event how are you holding up?" he asked.

She took in a deep breath, "I still don't really remember what happened, but I have been feeling fine." she told him then said, "I have been a little dizzy and tired though. I haven't said anything to my parents, but my vision has blurred a few times. I was thinking maybe I have the flu or something?"

He shook his head, "Ok." he said as he walked over and pulled out a stethoscope to listen to her heart. "I will need you to take off your hoodie so I can listen to your heart." he told her.

She bit her bottom lip, "It's actually kind of cold in here can't I just leave it on?" she asked.

Dr. Pritchard eyes narrowed, "Is there any reason you don't want to take off the hoodie Liz?" he asked her. "The temperature in here is at least 74 degrees I find it hard to believe you would be cold."

She tried to think of what to say next, "Actually doctor I did something really stupid." she told him.

Dr. Pritchard smiled, "What might that be?" he asked as he walked over to the window and closed the blinds.

Liz didn't notice what he was doing, "I let my friend Maria give me one of those dumb temporary tattoos kind of as a joke." she told him as she took her hoodie off to reveal the faint glow of the hand print through her top.

He walked over the cabinet and pulled out a needle, "Well we all do silly things, it is strange though that the sheriff said a nurse saw it before you were released from the hospital." he told her.

Liz heart was pounding in her chest, "He did?" she asked him as she thought about running.

The doctor walked back up behind her with the needle in his hand, "He did and that's why I have to do this." he told her as he came back around and shoved the needle into her shoulder near her neck.

Liz didn't even have time to react as her body fell forward and she slipped into unconsciousness. Dr. Pritcard walked over to her and laid her back on the exam table. He pulled open her jacket, he could see the glowing hand print just beneath her blouse. "This should have disappeared by now." he mumbled to himself, "The link he created must have been very strong." he said as he looked up into Liz's face, "You must mean a great deal for him to risk his life-like this." he said out loud as he held his hand out over Liz's chest and closed his eyes. He focused all of his energy as rays of light shot out from his hand and into her. Liz's jumped and her body reacted to the pain as he continued the process. Moments later he opened his eyes and smiled, "That ought to put the sheriff off for a while." he said as he looked to make sure the hand print was completely gone. He took in a deep breath and placed both hands over the sides of her head, and again he closed his eyes and began slowly probing her brain, as he watched the images flash before him, he smiled, "Of course it was Max. His healing abilities have become truly impressive." he said as he continued scanning her mind. "This is better than I could have hoped for." Once he was done he walked over and took a vile from the cabinet then went back over to her, he carefully held the tube up to her arm and took a small sample of the blood. "Lets see what kind of changes are happening." he mumbled as he walked over to the microscope on the counter to examine her blood. He looked closely and shook his head, "Truly this is better than I could have ever hoped for." He walked back over to Liz and put his hand along side her head, again he closed his eyes and focused, his hand began to glow, "Liz can you hear me?" he asked her.

"Yes." she responded without opening her eyes.

"Very good." he said, "Can you tell me who it was that healed you?" he asked her.

She shook her head, "I can't tell." she told him.

"But you know who it was don't you." he suggested, "Deep down you are beginning to remember who it was that came to you that night at the hospital."

Liz shook her head, "Yes..." she answered simply.

"Something is upsetting you though isn't it Liz, something about that night frightens you and its keeping you from truly remembering." he said as he searched through her deepest memories.

"Yes." she said as tears filled her eyes. "I don't want to remember, I don't want to know because..."

Dr. Pritchard took in a deep breath, "Because knowing will lead you to another question that you're not fully ready to face isn't that right?" he said.

Liz nodded her head, "Yes."

He pressed deeper, "Tell me Liz what is that other question?"

As tears streamed down her face she whispered softly, "How."

Dr Pritchard could see she was becoming more upset, "It's alright Liz. The how isn't as terrifying as you imagine." he told her as he whispered into her ear, "You won't remember any of this ever happening. You will wake up and feel completely happy and content knowing that the hand print just vanished on its own this morning. It will be one last thing you will have to worry about." He told her placing the suggestion deep inside her mind. He opened his eyes and walked over to the window to open the blinds. Then he came back over to Liz, he sat her up and put the stethoscope up to her back, then he said in a loud commanding voice, "Liz can you take in a deep breath for me please." he told her as her eyes popped open.

Liz took in a series of deep breaths then waited as he finished the exam. "Well how am I doing?" she asked completely unaware of what had just happened.

He walked back over to the chair, "Liz you are healthy as any other teenager." he told her, "Now your mom mentioned some bad dreams, I don't want you to worry about them. Dreams are funny things, our minds have a way of taking things that happen in our day-to-day lives and making them seem much bigger then they are."

She shook her head, "I realize that." she told him.

He smiled, "Now about these dizzy spells, and blurred vision you mentioned, I don't want you to worry about that. I think with all the stress you have been under and the fact that you haven't been sleeping so well plays a part into it. Of course when we go through major life changing events there are bound to be some changes that happen. Try not to be afraid or anxious. Get some extra rest, and do your best to take care of yourself, drink more fluids to stay hydrated." he told her then said, "Well it's getting late, I better get you out of here so you can make it to school on time."

Liz stood up and walked over toward the door, "Thank you Dr. Pritchard." she told him as she left. She was so glad that the hand print had finally disappeared that morning before she came.

He watched as she walked out of the office, then he took out his cell phone and made a call, "Hello." he said then went on, "Yes I just saw her." he told him. "No she won't remember a thing, I used a mild sedative so she would not feel any pain as I removed the hand print. I also took some blood samples and scanned her brain." he told him. "No there do not appear to be any side effects or issues with her health so far, but changes are happening. Her mind is adjusting exactly as we hoped it would." he said, "Yes it was as I suspected, it was Max that healed her. His powers have become very impressive and the connection between them is actually still very strong. That is the only thing that concerns me. Max is holding that link between the two of them, if she should suddenly reject it I am not sure what it might do to her." he told him, "Yes have him watch her closely at the school just to be safe. The sheriff could be a further threat if we are not careful, but I think even when she does remember that it was Max who came to the hospital she will do everything she can to protect him although she does struggle with some lingering fear." he told him. "Yes I will be in touch soon." he said then hung up the phone. He took in a deep breath, then he walked over and collected the vile of blood, the slid, and the injection needle he used on Liz he placed them all inside the sink and held his hand out over them. His hand began to glow as energy shot out and incinerated them instantly.

Maria woke up in her room and looked around puzzled at how she got there. The last thing she remembered was watching a scary movie with Michael on the couch. She took in a deep breath and got up, she was still in her clothes from the night before, she smiled, he must of put her in bed before he left. After she took her shower she went out into the kitchen, there was a note on the table, "thanks for the pizza and letting me crash on your couch." was scribbled across it. She got her breakfast as her mom came out of her room, "So how did your party go?" she asked her.

"It was great." she told her, "Everyone had a great time and I got four more bookings out of it."

Maria smiled, "That is great news mom." she told her.

"So how did things go with your friend last night? I saw him sleeping on the couch." she asked, "Is this a new boyfriend perhaps?"

Maria shook her head, "No, he is a friend, we watched movies and ate pizza." she told her.

Amy smiled, "But you do like this boy, I can tell." she said.

Maria took in a deep breath, "Michael is a nice guy and he can be kind of fun to hang out with, but as I said we are friends nothing more. Nothing happened, and nothing is going to happen." she told her as she finished eating her cereal.

Amy walked over and began brewing her coffee, "Maria as I have told you before its your life you have to live it, I can only offer you guidance along the way." she told her, "I just want you to know that if it goes beyond friendship with Michael and he moves into the rank of boyfriend, I have always trusted you and will continue to trust you to do what is best for you." she told her.

Maria shook her head, "Mom why can't you just be like every other mother and tell me no boyfriend sleep overs." she told her as she put her cereal bowl into the dish washer and headed toward her room.

Amy called out, "Because I don't want to be every other mom I want us to be friends. Besides I want you to feel free to make your own life decisions good or bad they have to be yours." she yelled out after her. "Some day you will thank me."

Maria shook her head, "No some day, I hope you finally grow up." she mumbled under her breath as she got dressed for school.

Liz was sitting with Alex in second period, "so how are things?" he asked her. "Kind of feel like we haven't connected as much lately."

Liz leaned over and placed her head on his shoulder, "Oh Alex, I am sorry I guess I have been kind of out of sorts." she told him.

He gently knocked his head against her, "You feeling alright?" he asked her. "You seem kind of down."

She took in a deep breath, "Yeah I guess I am a little. I haven't been sleeping very well and I have had a lot on my mind." she told him.

"Well that's understandable you just went through a pretty traumatic thing." he told her. "I hope you know you can trust me, I am always here for you if you need to talk." he reminded her.

She thought about telling him everything that had been going on. Alex was always so steady, so sure, the voice of reason in their little group. She could really use that in her life right now. Both her and Maria tended to let their hearts rule them, but Alex was always thinking and she missed not having that input in her life. "Maybe we could hang out later if you want to come over. My dad still hasn't finished the Crashdown remolding but we could still get him to make us some burgers and maybe catch up." she suggested. Maybe she could tell him the truth about what happened he would keep it secret, he had always been there for her in the past.

He shook his head and smiled, "I would really like that." he told her.

She started to feel a bit better when one of the student aids came through the door. He walked over to the teacher and handed her a note, "Miss Parker you are wanted in the principles office." she told her.

She looked over at Alex and then gathered up her things and made her way to the office. "Miss Parker sit down here." the secretary told her. Liz looked out the window and saw the sheriffs car in the parking lot. She knew he was there and going to question her again, she took in a deep breath and just tried to keep calm.

"You can go in now." the secretary told her.

She picked up her back pack and went into the office, she stopped abruptly when she saw the sheriff sitting in the principles desk. "Miss Parker I have a few more questions for you." he told her as he lifted his briefcase from the floor and placed it on his desk.

Liz shook her head, "I don't have anything new to tell you sheriff. As I told you two days ago I don't remember anything else from that night." she told him then said, "I remember both my dad and Mr. Evans saying that they wanted to be here if you asked me any further questions."

"I don't think that's necessary for them to be here Liz, after all I am just asking a few friendly questions, it's not like your under any kind of investigation or you have anything you are trying to hide, right?" he told her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "No I don't have anything to hide." she told him as she sat down.

The sheriff leaned forward in his chair and looked at her intently, "Liz I went back over to the hospital and talked with another one of the nurses on duty. Her name was Colleen, she was the head nurse that night and she mentioned some interesting things that just didn't sit right with me."

Liz shook her head, "I have already told you I don't remember anything that happened that night."

"Yes I remember you said that, but Nurse Colleen told me that she also heard you calling out to someone when you came to, she said you were calling for Max." the sheriff told her.

Liz took in a deep breath, "I don't remember doing that." she told him.

"Well since you can't remember and she does clearly remember you calling out for someone by the name of Max can you tell me why you would do that?" he asked her.

"You have already asked me this twice before." Liz tried to keep her heart from racing," and nothing has changed, since I don't remember doing it in the first place then I can't possibly give you a definitive answer as to why." she told him.

He opened up his files and read over some notes, "Maria said Max Evans was the first one over to you after you were shot." he said then added, "Maybe he came to the hospital later to see you and that is why were you calling his name."

"Or maybe I was dreaming." she stuck to her story.

He seemed like he was getting annoyed, "Would you say that Max and you are good friends?" he asked her.

Liz swallowed and tried to keep her nerves under control, "Max is my friend yes."

"Good enough friends that you might lie for him." he suggested.

"Sheriff I don't understand what you are trying to imply. I am not lying for Max or anyone else." she told him.

"Did you know that Michael Gurien came to the hospital the next morning to see you?" he asked then commented, "Michael is Max best friend isn't he?"

Liz shrugged her shoulders, "Yes Michael and Max are friends." she told him then said, "But I didn't know Michael came by to see me. I went home early that morning so I don't know who came to the hospital besides, Maria, Alex, and my mom and dad."

"Would you say that you are close friends with Michael Guerin?" he asked her ignoring everything else she said.

Liz shook her head, "No but he is a friend of Maria's so maybe he came by to give her support." she lied.

The sheriff opened another folder, "There is something else. When I spoke with nurse Colleen she remembered something rather odd. She remembered that when she took your vitals the morning that you were released she saw something on your chest, some kind of strange marking..." he said waiting to see her reaction. "She said it almost looked like a hand print right over where the gunshot wound had been."

Liz shrugged her shoulders and laughed, "Not sure what you're talking about sheriff. I don't have any kind of strange markings on my chest. If I did, I think I would know about it." she told him feeling very relieved that it was gone.

"Well I am going to need to see for myself..." he told her.

Liz shook her head, "No, I am not going to lift my shirt and show you anything, especially not without my parents being here." she told him standing her ground. She was actually shocked that he would even suggest such a thing.

"Miss Parker I would like to show you something..." he told her as he opened up another file and pulled out several photos. He slid them across the top of the desk for her to see, "each one of these people were killed under strange circumstance here in Roswell. The coroner said that each one died of internal injuries that he couldn't explain the only thing all of them had in common was this strange marking on their bodies." he told her pointing to one of the photos.

Liz looked at the photograph closely, she saw the hand print, it was just like the one she had on her chest. She felt her heart begin to beat faster. "I don't understand what any of this has to do with me." she told him. She looked at the dates on the photos they different. Some went all that way back to 1948 while the latest photo was dated 2001.

"Miss Parker these people were all killed in very strange circumstances, they all had families and friends that cared about them deeply and we just never could give them any answers to why their loved ones died so needlessly, but based on what the nurse on duty described seeing on your chest that morning I believe we may be able change that after all these years." he told her.

Liz shook her head, "This has nothing to do with me sheriff." she told him again.

He was angry, he sifted through several of the photo's, "Do you see this young woman Liz?" he demanded as he pushed the photo closer to her, "Her name was Jamie, and she was only twenty-six years old when she was killed. She had her entire life in front of her waiting to be lived but someone or something took that from her." he went through the pile of photo's again and pulled out one of a young police officer, "This was my partners, his name was Billy, he had two young kids, and a wife waiting for him to come home but he never made it because during a routine traffic stop he was killed instantly right in front of my eyes. This same mark was left on his chest that you have on yours." he told her as he pushed the rest toward her, "None of these people deserved to die." He leaned in closer and demanded, "Now you are going to show me that mark on your chest and tell me what happened that night at the hospital. Who came to see you, who healed you, and why!"

Liz was quiet, she tried to stay calm, but she wasn't sure what she should do in that moment. It was clear something had happened to those people in the photo's but she just couldn't believe that Max, if it really were Max would ever have anything to do with killing innocent people. The sheriff slammed his hand down on the desk and shook his head, "I don't understand Miss Parker how you can sit there and look at these photos of innocent people murdered in cold blood and say nothing! I almost wonder if someone is some how controlling you!" he snapped at her.

Liz bit her lip she glanced down at the pictures again then she looked back over at the sheriff and politely told him, "Sheriff Valenti I am not sure what it is you are looking for, but I can't help you. I honestly do not remember anything about what happened that night except for what others have told me. You can call me a liar if you want to but I haven't done anything wrong, and I certainly don't have to take off my shirt and show you my chest. I do know my rights and you can not force me to do so." she told him. "If you do try to force me to take off my shirt even with the nurse present I demand my mother and father be called right now and this interview stop until they are here and aware of what is happening." she told him.

The sheriff was angry that his bluff didn't work. "I am not going to let this drop Liz and neither will the people who took your hospital records. I'm going to be watching you and so will they." he warned her.

Liz summoned all the courage she had, "That really almost sounds like a threat sheriff. This is all starting to feel like intimidation to me and as you already said I am not under any kind of investigation. I wonder what the voters of this town would say about a sheriff who drags underage teenage girls into his office with out their parents knowledge and then threatens them for refusing to remove their clothes." she told him.

"That's not what happened here Liz and you know it." the sheriff told her feeling agitated at her suggesting such a thing.

"Sheriff I am sorry for your partner and for all the other people in those photo's but I told you that has nothing to do with me. Some of those pictures are of people who died before I was even born." she got to her feet and walked over to the door, "I'm not going to say anything to my parents about what happened here today, but if you keep coming after me like this I will tell them, I will tell Kyle, and I will tell all those reporters too that you are obsessed with making what happened to me into something other than what it was."

The sheriff stood up and shook his head, "and just what is that Miss Parker? How do you explain what happened to you?"

Liz smiled sweetly, "I don't have to sheriff explain anything to you or anyone else." she told him trying to hide how upset she really was, "But I will tell you what I believe, I believe it was a miracle, my parents said they prayed for a miracle and that's all it was...just a really wonderful miracle." she told him as she opened the door and left. Her hands were shaking as she walked towards the door and opened it. She was completely freaking out on the inside but knew she had to keep it together. She was surprised to see Maria, sitting just outside the office waiting to be called in next. She went to go over and talk with her but the the secretary stopped her, "You need to go back to class Miss Parker." then she turned to Maria, "Miss Deluca your next."

The sheriff stood just inside the door and waited as Maria came inside, "Thank you..." he said as he thumbed through some papers, "I just have a few more questions for you. I spoke with Liz already and she told me some very interesting things." he lied. "So now lets hear what you have to say." he smiled, "Lets start with how often does Max Evans come into the Crashdown?"

Maria thought about it for a moment as she sat down, "He comes in sometimes."

"Does he come in often?" the sheriff asked her again.

"At least a few days a week." Maria told him then she said, "But then so do a lot of the high school kids. For instance Kyle comes in at least three times a week also."

The sheriff shook his head, "But I am not asking you about Kyle." he told her then said, "Max come in often enough that you would recognize him?" he asked her.

Maria nodded her head, "yes."

"Did you see Max at the at the hospital at all during the time you were waiting for word on Miss Parker condition?" The sheriff asked her.

"No I did not see him there. Alex and I were there and her parents, but I don't remember seeing anyone else." she told him.

The sheriff leaned back in his chair, "You and Liz are best friends right?"

"yeah" she answered back.

"You tell each other secrets.." he said.

Maria smiled, "That is what best friends generally do."

"How would you say she feels about Max Evans?" he asked her.

Maria didn't say anything for a minute, "I'm not sure I understand your question?"

The sheriff took in a deep breath and leaned forward, "I am asking Miss Deluca, has Liz ever expressed any feelings for Max Evans?"

Maria hesitated, "That is very personal question." she told him

"Has she or hasn't she ever expressed having feelings for Max Evans of a romantic nature?" the sheriff repeated the question again.

Maria shook her head, "I don't see how answering that question would have anything to do with finding who shot her."

The sheriff eyes narrowed, "Miss Deluca I can hold you here for impeding my investigation." he warned her. "Now I am going to ask you one more time, has Liz Parker ever expressed feeling for Max Evans?"

"Sheriff I am not comfortable answering that question and I'm not going to. If you want to arrest me I get one phone call, I want to call Mr. Evans." she told him not giving into his intimidation.

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "What about the mark on Liz chest did she tell you about that?" he asked her.

Maria eyes narrowed, "What mark would that be sheriff?" she asked pretending not to know.

"The hand print on her chest, did Liz tell you how it got there?" he asked her.

Maria shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know what you're talking about." she lied. She knew he was just trying to catch her off guard and that there was no way Liz would have said anything to him about the hand print.

The sheriff shook his head and looked over his notes, "Maybe she isn't telling you everything Miss Deluca, maybe you don't know friend as well as you think you do." he said trying to create some division between herself and Liz, "Did you know Michael came to check up on Liz the morning that she went home from the hospital?"

Maria shook her head, "No I didn't know that either."

"Well he did, he came there just after Liz was released to go home." he told her, "Don't you think that is strange that he would come all the way down to the hospital to check up on someone who he isn't even really friends with?

"No not really." she told him, "Michael could have been there for another reason that morning?" she commented.

The sheriff leaned forward, "Really what might that reasons be?" he asked her.

She smiled, "He might have been there looking for me." she told him.

"Are you telling me that you and Michael Guerin are dating?" he asked her. "That he came there to see you and not to pick up Max Evans."

Maria shrugged her shoulders, "Michael was there for me sheriff, not anyone else just me." she told him as she got up and walked over to the door. "I'm going to go back to class now because I have a test that I don't want to have to make up unless you want to explain to my mom why I was being questioned with out her knowledge and permission?" she told him.

The sheriff took in a deep breath, "Liz is your friend isn't she?" he said finally.

Maria nodded her head, "We have already established that." she told him.

"Yes, well just be careful that what you're doing here is really helping her." he told her, "there are people out there that want to keep this as quiet as she does but for way different reasons. People who might just end up hurting your friend." he told her, "She doesn't understand what it is she is protecting."

Maria took in a deep breath and nodded her head, "You have a good day sheriff." was all she said as she walked out of the office. She looked over at the secretary, "Yeah yeah I know I need to get back to class." she mumbled as she walked past her.

Liz was heading back to class when she suddenly got really dizzy. She kept thinking about the pictures the sheriff had shown her about all those people who had been killed. What if he was right and the person who had helped her was the same person who had killed those people. She felt her heart racing as fear began to rise up inside her. Suddenly the connection she had with him made her feel very fear full and trapped. As she walked down the hall she could feel the room spinning all around her and her vision began to blur, making it almost impossible to see. She felt like she was going to pass out when she suddenly felt someone grab her hold of her. "Liz you feeling alright?" she heard someone say to her.

She turned to look at who it was but she couldn't see clearly, suddenly her hearing seemed off. "I don't know.." she mumbled as she tried to focus. "Whats happening to me." she said as the dizziness got worse and she felt herself loosing her balance.

"Liz you are really sick." he said as he felt her forehead, "You have a fever. I have to get you to my dad" She heard him say as she struggled to stay conscious.

(thank you for the replies. It is very encouraging to me. Just to answer a question I was asked, yes you will notice that some characters will be a little different then they were on the show. I hope that will not detract from the story for anyone. )


	11. Chapter 11

Maria just came out of the principles office and was walking down the hall when she ran into Michael,

"Seriously are you just following me all the time now?" she teased him.

"Yeah cause I don't have anything better to do." he told her. He took her hand in his and pulled her along with him to the end of the hallway, "So what did the sheriff want?" he asked her. "I saw his car in the parking lot, he's the one who called you into the office ugh?"

Maria shook her head, "Yes it was the sheriff. He wanted to ask more questions again." she told him.

"What kind of questions?" he asked her.

"He wanted to know about Liz and if she has feeling for Max?" she told him.

Michael took in a deep breath, "Does she?" he asked her.

Maria thought about it for a moment then looked at him intently in the eyes, "Yes she does." she told him. "Does Max have feelings for Liz?"

Michael shook his head, "Pretty much." he admitted. "What does it matter to the sheriff if they have the hots for each other?"

"I think he is trying to prove that Max was at the hospital that night." she told him. "He thinks someone came to the hospital and healed Liz, and he thinks that someone was Max."

"Why would he think that?" Michael asked. "That doesn't even make sense. No one could do something like that."

"I know that is what Liz and I have said, but he has lost it or something." Maria took in a deep breath, "Oh you should know he asked about you too." she told him.

"What did he ask about me?" He asked her.

He wanted to know why you came by the hospital that morning, he wanted to know if I thought you came to pick up Max." she told him. "He asked me if Max was at the hospital that night."

Michael shook his head, "What did you tell him?" he asked her.

Maria watched him closely, "I told him I didn't see Max, because I didn't." she told him.

"What did you tell him about me?" he asked her.

"Liz told him you were there because of me. She said that you came over to check up on me and make sure I was alright."

"Maria I..." he started to say when she interrupted him.

"Don't worry, I know that's not why you were really there. I just wanted you to know if he ever says anything to you." she said as she started to walk away. She got a few steps from him then turned and asked, "Come to think of it, why were you there that morning? You and Liz aren't close friends, so why come down and check up on her?"

He took in a deep breath, "I was checking up on her because of Max. He has had a major crush on her for a really long time and he was pretty devastated about what happened. I went down to find out what I could for him." he told her.

"I thought it was probably something like that." she said trying to hide her disappointment. She waited until he was gone then she pulled her phone from her pocket and sent a text to Liz. "Meet me so we can talk."

Liz tried to keep focused, but the pain was getting worse."Please just get Maria. She will know what to do, she will explain everything." she tried to tell him as she felt two strong arms scoop her up and hold on tight to her. "You can't take me to the hospital." she moaned as the pain intensified.

"Don't worry Liz, you will be fine. I know exactly where to go for help, you will be safe I promise you." he told her. He made sure no one saw him as carried out to his car. He carefully placed her into the passenger seat then got in. He closed his eyes and focused his energy on communicating to his dad, "Harold, I have Liz with me, but she isn't doing so good." he told him telepathically. "I am bringing her to the house, she is in a lot of pain."

Liz struggled to stay conscious, but the pain in her head was getting worse. She looked up at him, the harder she tried to focus the worse the pain got. "Where are you taking me?" she asked him.

"I'm going to get you help." he told her as he drove the car away from the school parking lot. A short time later he drove up a long drive way and pulled the car into the garage. He got out and carried Liz into the house and down the hallway. "Harold!" he called out as he carried her over through the hallway and through a set of solid wooden doors. She tried to look around but her vision was so blurry that nothing looked familiar. He carried into a room with a large desk and several sets of bookshelves all along the back wall. He walked over toward the fireplace and pushed back on one of the books, as he did a hidden doorway opened.

Liz saw someone step out from the doorway, she tried to focus on who it was but the pain was too intense. All she could see were lights and warped movements around her. "Please help me." she cried.

"What happened to her?" Harold asked him as he led the way down a flight of stairs.

"I don't know. I saw her walking in the hall, she said she was dizzy, her vision is blurred and she is in and out of consciousness."

"Lay her over here and then get me that tray over on the counter." Harold pointed to table just, as he hurried over and grabbed a medical pack from the cabinet. "Dr. Pritchard said that the changes were already beginning to happen." he told him.

"What changes are we talking about exactly?" he asked him as he laid Liz down on the exam table.

"When Max healed her, he brought her back from the point of death. The two of them were connected in such a way that his life force mingled with hers." Harold told him, "I know that sounds confusing but it really is the only way I can explain it to you." he said as he took the needle from the tray and inserted it into the vein on her arm, "Liz's brain is undergoing some very drastic changes, in fact the entire way her brain functions will begin to work differently when the process is complete. Of course this is new territory for all of us, so we are learning as we go." he told him as he took out a syringe and injected the medication into the IV. "I think we can get her comfortable by slowing the brain's activity for a while. It should help ease the pain. Of course she has no idea what is happening to her and I think that is why she is suffering from so much pain."

"What do you mean?" he asked him.

"Think of it this way, right now her brain is reacting to foreign stimulus. It doesn't know where it is coming from or why it is there so it is reacting to protect itself by rejecting what is happening. Fighting against the changes going on." he explained.

Liz felt like she was burning up and the pain in her head continued to get worse. She knew they were talking about her but she could only make out bits of what they were saying. Everything around her seemed off and distorted. She tried to open her eyes and focus but the pain was too intense. She could feel herself slipping further into darkness. She was afraid, "Please stay with me." she cried as he took her hand in his.

"Liz I promise you will be alright." he told her as he held her hand tight. Moments later she drifted off to sleep. Harold looked over at the monitors, her blood pressure was coming down and her heart rate was becoming normal, but her hands and arms began sparking short bursts of electoral magnetic energy all around her. "She may end up having some of the same abilities as the rest of you." he commented.

"What did you give her?" he asked him as he let her hand go and stepped back from her.

"I gave her morphine for the pain and to dull the activity in the brain for now. Think of it like a kind of slow down switch" he explained.

"She will be alright won't she?" he asked him.

"I hope she will. I think if she knew what was happening to her, if she understood it would help the situation. Right now she is frightened and I think it is making it all the more difficult because she doesn't really know what is happening."

"Max has to tell her the truth. He has to tell her what is going on." he told him.

Harold took in a deep breath, "I doubt even he understands what is happening now. Remember the three of them were not raised as you were. They have no real memories of who they were or where they came from. It was by pure chance that the Evan's brought Isabel and Max to Dr. Pritchard to have a check up, if they hadn't we probably still wouldn't know where the three of them were."

He closed his eyes and thought about Isabel, "I would have known." he mumbled to himself.

Harold looked over at his son, "Yes I believe you would have." he sighed. "Your telepathic abilities have increased in strength so much over the last few years."

"Dad I know you want to protect me and the others, but I think its time to arrange a meeting. I think its time that we come out of the shadows at least with each other. Liz needs answers from Max and I can help him reach out to her."

Harold shook his head, "It's not safe." he warned him.

He took in a deep breath and shook his head, "I have been able to connect with some of the others telepathically with no problems. We have been safe so far."

"We have been lucky so far." he corrected him, "You know Nascedo is out there searching for Max and if he finds him he will do whatever he has to, to turn him over to Khavar. If Khavar finds Max and gets his hands on the granilith then all hope for my planet is lost."

He took in a deep breath, "Yes and I know if your government finds us then all hope for my people is lost as well." he told him.

"Then you know how dangerous and serious this situation is." he said.

"I know, but maybe Liz is the link we have waited for. Max has very strong feelings for her, he would never betray her now and do anything to jeopardize the people of Earth." He told him then said, "Dad we can't keep Max in the dark where Liz is concerned. It's to risky, it will attract even more attention from the sheriff and who knows how Max will react if he thinks something has happened to her. If the connection he has with her is as strong a link as you suspect then he probably already knows something is going on with her." he told him. "Let me make contact with Isabel first. I can speak with her telepathically without revealing who I am. I will let her know Liz is safe and we can go from there."

Harold took in a deep breath, "You have to be careful one wrong move and this could all blow up in our faces." he warned him.

"I will be careful I promise." he told him.

Harold hesitated, "What about Maria and Liz's parents?"

"I'm not sure how to handle that exactly." he told him. "But I am working on it."

"I will agree to this because if we don't Max probably will do something on his own that will only draw even more attention to himself and because the sheriff isn't backing off but be careful." he told him.

Max suddenly felt very dizzy, he knew something was wrong with Liz but he didn't know what. He grabbed his books and slipped out of class. He forced himself to fight off the effects Liz was suffering from as he ducked into the eraser room closet and locked the door. He tried to block out what was happening but the connection between them was so strong. His slumped down to the floor as his head exploded with pain, he knew it was coming from Liz. He tried to focus, he tried to connect with her but the more he did the worse he felt. Finally he pulled back and gave up trying to connect with her altogether, as he did the pain eased and he was able to focus again. He knew she was hurting and that something was very wrong but he had no idea where she was or who might be with her. His heart was pounding as he got back to his feet and shook off the last effects of what Liz was going through. The bell rang as he headed down the hall looking for Michael and Isabel. He went to their lockers, "I think Liz is in trouble." he told them as he walked up.

Isabel eyes narrowed, "What are you talking about?" she asked him as she turned and looked at him. "Max what happened to you?" she asked shocked out how he looked.

"Before in class I was feeling really sick and I had to leave." he told her.

Isabel shook her head, "But we don't get sick." she told him as she put her hand up to his forehead to see if he had a fever.

Michael knew what he was talking about, "Yeah but Liz Parker can and does get sick." he said as he followed Max out into the quad.

"So what does Liz being sick have to do with Max?" Isabel asked as she tried to keep up with them both.

"Because of the connection I have with her, there have been a few instances when she has had blurred visions, and dizziness that effected me too." Max told her. "Michael knows about it because when it happened last time he was there."

"Last time?" she snapped at him, "This has happened to you before and you didn't tell me?"

Max took in a deep breath as he sat down at the table, "Isabel don't make a bigger deal out of it then it is." he told her. "I'm fine now, its Liz I am concerned about. I can't connect to her fully. When I try the pain intensifies. I am worried about her. I need to find her. I need to make sure she is alright."

Isabel could see how upset he was, "Maria might know something." she told him. "Michael could talk to her.

Michael shook his head, "Sure why not, apparently she and I are dating now anyway." he told them sarcastically.

"What do you mean the two of you are dating?" Isabel asked, "When did this happen?"

"It happened when the sheriff came to the school this morning pulled Liz from her classes and demanded more answers. Apparently he wanted to know why I was there that morning, he was pressing her saying that I was there to pick up Max because he was the one there and she told him I was there for Maria." He told her.

Isabel shook her head, "So what about Maria?" she asked him "What she going to say about this?"

Michael took in a deep breath, "She told him the same thing when he called her in after he finished badgering Liz." he told her then said, "Don't worry about it Maria fine, she knows I was there to find out about Liz for Max."

Isabel took in a deep breath, "Both her and Liz are protecting you two for a reason and I think we all need to lay our cards on the table especially if Liz is getting sick." she told them, "Max what if your healing her is the cause of her getting sick, she must be so afraid, so confused right now."

Max took in a deep breath, "don't you think I know that." he said as he got up and walked away toward the parking lot. He already felt guilty for what Liz was going through he didn't need Isabel reminding him.

Isabel shook her head in frustration, "Michael talk to Maria then come by the house and let us know what you find out." she said as she gathered up her stuff and followed after Max.

Maria walked out unto the quad and sat down at their usual table and waited to see if Liz might show up. She had sent her texts and calling her since she finished up with the sheriff but still there was no response. She sat there trying to fight off the overwhelming feeling that something was wrong. She glanced down at her phone and then over toward Michael. He was sitting alone looking over at her.

She heard the door open and looked up to see if it was Liz but it wasn't.

"Since your my girlfriend now, I figured I probably should come over and sit with you." Michael told her as he sat down next to her.

She looked up and him and shook her head, "You don't know have to play the part. The sheriff isn't around now." she told him.

Michael leaned over and whispered, "You look upset, what's going on?" he asked her ignoring what she said about the sheriff, "Is it Liz, did one of the teachers give her a hard time again?"

"I don't think so." She took in a deep breath, "I was wondering if Max had mentioned hearing from Liz today?" she asked him.

Michael shook his head, "No I don't think he has seen her, because he was just asking Isabel and I if we have seen her at school." he told her.

Maria glanced down at her phone again, "I haven't heard from her." she told him.

Michael looked into her eyes, "Maybe she wanted to get away, you said a lot has been going on. Maybe she went to visit with those friends again." he commented.

Maria shook her head, "Yeah maybe."

Michael looked up and saw Alex coming toward them, "I should go. Don't worry Liz will be fine." he told her as he got up and walked away.

Maria watched him go then turned her attention back toward Alex, "hey."

Alex sat down, "So I was hoping I might get to eat lunch with you and Liz today and instead I find you with Michael Gurien. That's knew." he told her.

Maria shrugged her shoulders, "Michael and I are friends." was all she said.

Alex shook his head, "Kind of like Max and Liz are now friends." he said sarcastically. "So where is Liz? She was here this morning."

Maria looked back down at her phone, "Um I am not sure actually where she is at the moment." she admitted.

Alex's eyes narrowed, "She was in second period with me, then she got called in to see the principle."

Maria shook her head, "She didn't go see the principle it was the sheriff using his office."

Alex shook his head, "How do you know that for sure?" he asked him.

Maria took in a deep breath, "Because he called me in to see him too." she looked down at her phone again.

Alex could see she was upset, "Maria what is going on?" he asked her. "Why do I get the feeling that something is wrong and you're not telling me?"

She shook her head, "No everything is fine." she lied.

Alex wouldn't let it drop, "Maria I can see everything is not fine. You and Liz are my best friends, when something happens that affects one of us, it affects all of us so tell me what is going on."

She looked over toward the door and then back down at her phone, "It's just that the sheriff has been really crazy with his questioning of us and now Liz isn't answering any of my texts. I am just worried she got upset but it's probably nothing." she told him.

"Maybe we should call her parents." he suggested.

Maria didn't know what to do, "Maybe." she said as she glanced down at her phone again.

"What did Michael say, I know Max and Liz have gotten a lot closer lately. She told me the two of them have become pretty good friends." Alex told her, "Maybe Max knows where she is."

"I was thinking the same thing, but Michael said he doesn't know where she is." she told him.

"You know the sheriff has called me in and asked about Liz. He called me in just yesterday, pulled me out of class." he told her.

Maria shook her head, "You never told me that?" she commented. "Did Liz know?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "No, I didn't say anything." he told her, "Lately I just felt like Liz needed her space so I have not really talked with her that much."

Maria felt bad for him, "Oh Alex I am so sorry." she told him then asked, "What did the sheriff say when he questioned you?"

He took a bite of his sandwich, "Weird stuff, he asked about Liz health, if she ever got sick and if she ever talked about Max." he told her then said, "the strangest thing he asked about was this mark on her chest."he told her.

Maria mouth dropped open, "What did he say exactly?"

Alex eyes narrowed, "He asked me if I knew about the strange hand print mark Liz had on her chest. He said she had this mark over the place where she got shot. He asked if either one of you ever mentioned it." he told her.

Maria shook her head, her heart racing. "What did you tell him?" she asked.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, "what do you mean what did I tell him?" He commented, "I told him I didn't know what he was talking about and as far as I knew Liz didn't have any kind of mark on her chest. I told him she doesn't tell me everything."

Maria shook her head, "Yeah of course." she took in a deep breath and looked down at her phone again.

Alex took in a deep breath, "I can see your worried about her. I know there is something more going on just tell me whats happening."

Maria gathered up her things, "Alex I'm fine so is Liz, I am just worried over nothing." she told him.

"Where are you going?" he asked her.

"I think I am just going to go over to the Crashdown, see if Liz shows up there." she told him.

He gathered up his things and followed her, "then I am coming with you." he told her. "Liz is my friend too."

"Alex seriously you don't have to." she told him as she walked over to her car. "I will call you as soon as I talk to her." she promised.

Alex took in a deep breath, "yeah sure." was all he said as he walked away in frustration.

Max handed Isabel her yearbook, "Remember no matter what you find out..." he reminded her again.

She opened the year book and shook her head, "I will tell you." she promised.

Max took in a deep breath, "Thank you Isabel." was all he said as he walked out of her room and into his. More than anything he hoped she could get through to her, each time he tried the pain in his head grew more severe. He sat down on the edge of his bed and took in a deep breath, "Please be safe." he mumbled to himself.

Isabel closed her eyes and focused all of her energy on Liz. She knew it was important to Max that she find out something for him. She tried to concentrate on Liz only as she closed her eyes, suddenly she found herself in an underground room. She saw Liz sleeping on an examination table and an older man standing over her. She had monitors and an IV hooked up to her. She tried to step into Liz's mind but she was to heavily sedated. She tried to look around and see where she was but nothing looked familiar. Suddenly she heard a voice calling out to her and the scene around her changed.

"Isabel?" she heard his voice calling out to her. "I know you are here. I know you and Max are worried about Liz but she is safe."

Isabel looked around but all she could see was mist and a faint light from the distance. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"A friend." he told her.

"How are you talking to me?" she asked him.

"Like you I have abilities. I can speak to you telepathically and I can hear your thoughts." he told her.

"How is that possible?" she asked him trying to make out who it was standing just in the shadows.

He took a step toward her, "Did you think, you, Max, and Michael were the only ones?" he asked her.

Isabel struggled to see through the mist, "Are you saying that you are one of us?" she asked him.

"Like you I am one of many." he told her. "I was there with you Isabel, when the ship crashed. There were six of us on that transport. There were six of us hidden in the caves in our pod chambers. There were six children that walked away."

"Six." she repeated his words. "Why haven't you made contact before now?"

"Because the three of you were safer being anonymous. We have enemies out there that will do anything to get their hands on Max and to stop our protectors. Enemies here on Earth as well as from our home planet." he told her. "When Max healed Liz he brought a lot of attention to Roswell and to us without knowing it."

"What about Liz, you said she is safe, where is this place?" she asked him. "I saw her, she looked like she was in a hospital or something."

"It's not a hospital, but she is safe." he told her. "Right now her mind is changing, a result of Max's healing her and bringing her back from the point of death. The pain she is experiencing was expected although we think the changing process maybe happening more rapidly then it normally would have because of the connection he has kept with her. We have given her medication that will help ease the pain and slow the process but there are somethings happening that even we are not sure about." he told her.

"You talk as if you knew this was going to happen." she commented.

"We did know." he told her. "We have been watching Liz very closely since Max went to the hospital and healed her."

"Does that mean you have been watching us as well?" She tried to walk closer to him, "What is your name?" she asked. "Why won't you let me see who you are?"

"For now I'm a friend and that is all you need to know." he told her then said. "Isabel we have to be careful there are those out there as I said who would go to great lengths to harm you, even kill you." he warned her. "I have to go now."

"Wait!" she called out, "What about Liz? Max isn't going to be ok with this, he will want to see her for himself."

"I will be in contact with you soon." he told her then disappeared.


End file.
